White Reflections
by Sephira jo
Summary: Assassin is a man with no memory. Seung Mina's off to look for White Storm the blade that Yun Sung has taken. How will their actions affect the future?
1. Prologue

Title: White Reflections

Series: Soul Calibur

Authors: Sephira jo (sephirajo@yahoo.com) and Cap'n Dampeal (capndampeal@lycos.com)

Rating: R (for violence, angst, adult situations and the like to put it bluntly me and Cap'n Dampeal don't write for the kiddies.)

Part 1/?? (well, to be purely technical this *is* a part)

Archive: With Permission only

Disclaimer: We don't own this game! Namco does! If we owned it, the characters would be seriously fucked. 'Cause we like to mess with characters minds. Oh yeah. ^-^

Authors' Notes: Reposted with the **original** formatting. Which is in more of a book style with the bold text and title included. Enjoy. ^_^

  
  


**White Reflections: Prologue **

The fire burned weakly, casting thin shadows about the dark landscape. Its feeble glow barely touched the sharp rocks that sheltered it, massive sentinels with backs turned away from the ineffectual flames. But the fire burned brightly within the soft eyes of the man who stared into it, crouched before it in the mountain hollow. He barely felt its warmth through his thick veil, but he needed it. The fire was the whole of his world. If he could just stare into it long enough, maybe he could make sense of the rest of the world. Of… anything. He gripped his head with his cloth-swathed hands. Why couldn't he remember anything? His only strong memory was one he would rather forget, if it weren't the only piece of his identity he could cling to. Involuntarily, his left hand drifted to touch the cold spot on the back of his neck. It pulsed beneath his fingertips. The pain was still there.

* * *

_Pain. That was the look in the Japanese general's eyes when I delivered him his deathblow. I had killed at least a hundred men by then, but something felt different when I tugged my blade free of his crimsoned flesh and he sank to the dusty ground. There was something odd about his blood that stained the wrappings on my hands. Fresh from the body, it pulsed as if still pumped by the dead man's heart—but it was colder than my steel blade. The pulsing throbbed in my skull and vibrated in my chest. I gripped my head as the world turned to black. It felt like a dark veil fell all around me, suffocating me in its folds. I fought against it, but my efforts seemed only to entangle me further. Finally, I… I woke up. My body was entangled with that of the general I had slain and all around me were many more corpses, Japanese and Korean soldiers alike._

_The ravens eyed me with contempt as I stumbled blindly through the field of fallen men. How many of these corpses was I responsible for? Was I a soldier? I knew one thing—I had killed and would probably continue to kill many more. _

_"Assassin"—the word came to me unbidden, a label to name me as my real name evaded my memory._


	2. Chapter One

Title: White Reflections

Series: Soul Calibur

Authors: Sephira jo (sephirajo@yahoo.com) and Cap'n Dampeal (capndampeal@lycos.com)

Rating: R (for violence, angst, adult situations and the like to put it bluntly me and Cap'n Dampeal don't write for the kiddies.)

Part 2/?? (prologue counts as a part)

Archive: With Permission only

Disclaimer: We don't own this game! Namco does! If we owned it, the characters would be seriously fucked. 'Cause we like to mess with characters minds. Oh yeah. ^-^

  


**Chapter One**

  


Seung Mina awoke with start, aware only that a sound like thunder was responsible for wrenching her from deep slumber. She sat up groggily and rubbed her eyes, trying to shake off the last remnants of sleep.

"MINA!!!!" 

Mina winced—the sound like thunder had been her father. Racking her brain, she tried to remember what on earth she had done this time to incur his wrath. Since that _last_ incident there had been no proposals of marriage. And right now she had no reason to be planning another adventure.

"MINA, GET OUT HERE!"

Well, there was no stopping the old man once he was set on something. In that respect, her beloved Daddy was much like her. Resigning to the fate of a confrontation with the great master of the Seung dojo, Mina rolled off her bed and dressed as fast as she could, her father's booming cries booming cries growing steadily nearer as she fumbled into her armored red vest and split fighting skirt. She was just fastening her last earring when the door to her room slid open with a bang.

"Mina!" he shouted, and man, did he ever look angry.

"Yes, Daddy?" Mina said sweetly, using the same tone of voice she always employed to win over her father.

"Come with me," he said harshly, spinning around and walking away from her, "now."

Mina shrugged. So Daddy was having another mood swing, huh? Bouncing to her feet, she followed after him, wondering what it was this time. She hoped it wasn't another marriage proposal—she didn't know if she could take another one of those. She had no interest in any of the stupid village boys. There was only one person who had ever made her heart flutter, but he kept leaving her behind as he went out on great adventures.

Seung Han Myong stopped outside the sliding door to the room where the dojo's heirlooms were kept and shot Mina a glance that told her that he expected a full explanation for whatever trouble lay inside. Mina returned the glare with a quizzical gaze, thoroughly certain she had no idea what that trouble that might be. Han Myong flung open the door to the room with a bang and moved aside, allowing Mina to step inside.

"Explain," was all her father said. Mina looked around confused— everything seemed in its place in the softly lit, rose-colored room. Scarlet Thunder was there, sitting proudly in its place. The other weapons were all there as well, shining in the sunlight that filtered into the room. Then her eyes fell on the carved, mahogany display where White Storm should have rested. _Should have._

"**WHAT THE**!?!?!" Mina screamed, realization quickly crashing down on her. White Storm was gone. Mina looked back at her father, who still awaited an explanation from her. "Daddy, White Storm is gone!"

"Yes, Mina, I know that," her father said tersely. "Care to explain?"

Mina shook her head violently, "Daddy, for once it's not my fault, I swear!"

Han Myong raised an eyebrow, "You mean, this dojo's missing a weapon and for once it _isn't_ the fault of Seung Mina?"

"But Daddy! I-" the young woman stopped, clamping her hand over her mouth in shock as the memory returned quickly and painfully.

* * *

_Yun Sung was sitting in the starlight, looking so put-out that Seung Mina couldn't bear to watch him. Anger roiled inside of her. She stomped to the weapon room of the dojo and, yanking White Storm off its holder, took it to the courtyard and approached the young man._

_ She came to stand in front of him, arms akimbo, the sword hanging at her hip. She cleared her throat to catch the attention of the despondent student of her father. Yun Sung looked up, his misery reflecting in his eyes. Mina felt disgusted._

_ "How long are you going to keep sulking!?" she shouted, "You are still such a baby," she said, dropping White Storm at his feet. She turned to walk away and spoke over her shoulder. "Look at yourself in that sword and think things over," she explained as she strode angrily back to the dojo._

_ As she left, it never occurred to her that he wouldn't put it back. After all, Yun Sung never did anything adventurous. It just wasn't like him at all._

* * *

"He took it! That baby took White Storm!" Mina screamed, turning around and running out of the weapon room before she even saw the look that registered on her father's face. Racing through the dojo, she flung open the door to Yun Sung's room and, sure enough, he was gone. Seung Mina was livid. Did he really think he could get away with it?! She stalked back to her room and quickly prepared a travel bag. Her mind set, she strode toward the gates of the dojo.

"Mina!" The voice of her father halted her; she turned around. Seung Han Myong stood behind her, holding Scarlet Thunder in his hands. Before she could say anything, her father tossed her the zanbatou; she caught it easily. "You forgot that," he said.

Mina looked at her weapon, then up at her father, "You're not stopping me, Daddy?" she asked curiously.

Her father walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. If Mina didn't know any better, she would have sworn that he smiled, "Mina, you've taught me the hard way that I'd never be able to stop you. Just be careful."

Mina threw her arms around her father, "Thank you, Daddy!"

"Just make sure you bring back White Storm and Yun Sung in once piece," her father said, embracing her back, "and yourself too, Mina."

_I will, Daddy_, she promised silently as she turned away and walked out into the world, this time unhindered by the guilt of a runaway. She would bring back White Storm. She would bring back Yun Sung. And she would get to have another grand adventure. _Now, _she thought, _if only Hwang were here to see this._

Hong Yun Sung galloped his horse hard, as if by doing so he could outrace the sinking sun and fly the 200 remaining miles to Yöngyang on its last rays. Kiri had other ideas, however, and slowed to a halt outside an unfamiliar village without any regard to Yun Sung's frantic kicks. The small mare huffed loudly, then promptly dipped her head and began to nibble at the sparse grass at the side of the road. A few scattered villagers, returning to their huts in the village after a long day in the fields, stared openly at Yun Sung.

"Not here, not now," he pleaded with his nonrespondent mare. "Alright, fine. We'll stop here for the night." He finally urged Kiri back into a walk.

When Yun Sung slid off the mare's sweat-slicked back, he nearly collapsed into the stall at the village inn's stables. He groaned, wiping the sweat from his dirty hands onto the thighs of his even dirtier pants. He smelled like horse and a million miles on the road, although he had only put 140 miles—3 days—between him and the Seung dojo. He handed the stableman a coin to care for his horse, then patted his purse and staggered into the inn's tavern.

The characters in the tavern were a dirty lot, villagers just beginning to trickle in from the fields. They sat stooped around low tables, only looking up from their sake cups to stare at Yun Sung through the dim haze. The barkeeper could not fill Yun Sung's request for water—he had only sake to offer. Yun Sung was apprehensive of the alcohol at first, but it turned out to be almost as weak as water anyway. It did well enough in wetting his parched throat and, after a couple of drinks, the villagers' stares no longer agitated him. 

"So, what's the news in this village?" he asked sociably. He suddenly felt very grown up, drinking with working men in a bar! His inquiry brought slow jaw movements to the stout man sitting across from him.

"You'd ask something like that… at a time like this? Don't you know that a battalion of the Japanese army is marching this way? They could overtake us tonight… or tomorrow… we're all dead men," the man replied, gesturing unsteadily at the room in general. Yun Sung sat up sharply, the warm numbness of the sake melting away in an instant.

"Wha… what do you mean? I mean… if that's true…. Man, how can you be sitting here, drinking, when your village is going to be crushed! Shouldn't you be running away?!" He scrabbled up to his feet, his hand moving unsteadily to the sword that hung at his hip.

"Run away? To where?" grumbled another man. "Everything we have is here—our fields, our families. We might as well put up one last stand with what few fighters we have left."

"But if you fled, at least you'd have your lives!" Yun Sung persisted, incredulous at the villagers' fatalistic attitude.

"It's no use, lad," sighed the first man. "They've trampled us before and they'll do it again as they make their way West."

"Have you looked around, boy?" piped up a third man. "There's nothing but desert outside of the fields we've planted and tilled with our own blood. Better to die a quick death as the end of a sword than starve in the desert." Yun Sung's head spun. He couldn't believe he was hearing this.

"Then… then what about your families? Why aren't you home with them?!" He realized he was almost shrieking, but he couldn't stop himself.

"My wife's at home with the kids," sighed the first man. "I can't stand the look in her eyes anymore… like she knows I can't protect her or our children… can't stand those eyes until I've had a few drinks, that is."

Japanese soldiers. Invading. Here. Soon. Yun Sung slammed a few coins on the bar counter and tore through the back door that led to the stable. He, for one, planned to flee.

"Kiri, Kiri! We have to go," he whispered nervously to his horse. He suddenly did not feel like a grownup at all, just a frightened little boy. "This village is a deathtrap," he breathed as he flung the saddle onto the mare's back and cinched it tightly. He coaxed the bit of the bridle into her mouth, then leaped astride and snatched the reins between trembling fingers. The stableman stared at him as if witnesses a murder. Yun Sung didn't care. He kicked Kiri into a trot, then galloped her out of the stable and into the night.

"Gods, gods," he swore as Kiri's hooves thundered on the hard dirt road that divided the village. He clenched the reins in one hand, White Storm in the other. He suddenly regretted taking the weapon… he suddenly regretted leaving the dojo at all. Now he was in completely unfamiliar territory in northern Korea with Japanese invaders perhaps only a day's ride away! He was in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the very war that Hwang had left the dojo to fight!

Yun Sung's stomach suddenly lurched at the thought of Hwang. Hwang Yun Sung Kyung, his one-time idol, now rival. He was fighting to protect villages like the one Yun Yun Sung now fled. If we were to surpass his rival, he could not run away. He must fight as well.

"Kiri, where are you running to? Can't you see it's just desert out there? We have to go back and fight the last stand."

"I thought you were gone already," a man grumbled as Yun Sung burst back into the tavern.

"Guys, you have to get off your sorry asses and prepare to fight! If we're going to make a stand against the Japanese army, we need a strategy!"

"Hey, kid, I think you've had a few too many cups of sake…."

"I am a warrior from the Seung dojo in Chili-san," Yun Sung continued, ignoring the comment. He heard some shouts of encouragement and proudly went on. "You'll need to go home and gather what weapons you have, including farm tools. Now, obviously we can't win against an entire battalion with mere pitchforks, so we'll need to lay a trap outside the village." 

Suddenly, he realized that the shouts were not so encouraging. Neither were they coming from within the room.

"Oh, shit," he whispered. Then everything began happening at once. The tavern emptied around him, leaving him in the wreckage of upturned tables and shattered sake cups. The soldiers—how far away really were they? He dived into a corner behind the bar counter, cowering as the world came crashing down around him.

He didn't know for how long he hid there when the shelves of sake bottles shattered above him, raining liquor and shards of shards upon him. 

"What's this?" grunted the solider.

"Stay back!" Yun Sung warned him, waving White Storm menacingly… or was that just the shaking of his hands? The Japanese soldier just laughed. He took a final swig from a bottle of sake and threw it down on the young man in an explosion of glass. 

Yun Sung shielded his face from the shards, then rose from his crouch to strike at the soldier. The man knocked Yun Sung's unsteady thrust away with a grunt and a vertical strike with his katana. Yun Sung ducked back behind the counter, avoiding the blade. Heart pounding and adrenaline screaming, he then launched himself up into a leaping strike, hurling himself over the counter and slashing at his opponent. They both tumbled onto the dusty floor of the tavern. Yun Sung scrambled to recover, but found himself trapped beneath the soldier's heavy bulk. He screamed and slashed out again. Finally, he hefted the man off and rolled to his feet. He lifted White Storm in a final strike, then realized that the man was already dead.

Blood poured from the dead man's chest wounds, pooling on the dirty floor. It was smeared all over Yun Sung's white clothing as well. A moment later, Yun Sung added regurgitated sake and bits of kim-chee to the mix as he heaved the contents of his stomach.

"Gods, I killed him. I…." He had only sparred in the dojo, never taken a man's life. He crawled back behind the bar counter and curled into a ball, fits of choking tears interspersed with vomiting.


	3. Chapter Two

Series: Soul Calibur

Rating: R

Authors: Sephira jo (sephirajo@yahoo.com) and Cap'n Dampeal (capndampeal@lycos.com)

Story: White Reflections 

Part 3/?? (the prologue counts as a part)

Archive: With Permission only

Disclaimer: We don't own this game! Namco does! If we owned it, the characters would be seriously fucked. 'Cause we like to mess with characters minds. Oh yeah. ^-^

Authors' notes: There's some serious angst in this chapter. But we both hope you enjoy it! Remember, it will all work out in the end.

  


* * ^_^ * *

  


**Chapter Two**

Seung Mina's feet were sore. The effects of a day's travel with no horse were quick to catch up to the young woman. "I wonder if you're laughing right now, Daddy," Mina sighed, "at the fact that your brilliant and talented daughter didn't think to take a mount." She sulked for only a moment; it wasn't like her to let the little things get her down. Horses could be easily bought or bartered for. 

She stood up straight, ignoring the burning pain in her feet—after all, her Chinese master had put her through worse than this—and gazed down at the walled fortress of a city that lay in the valley. Carts drawn by horses rumbled back and forth down the nearby road, carrying goods and food to market. If it weren't for the large groups of foot soldiers on the path, a person might not realize that Korea was at war.

With a quick stretch and a bounce to wake her aching feet, Mina started back on the road. The walk to the walled city took a little longer than she expected, as it was very crowded. Despite having lived in an isolated dojo in a small village all her life, Mina felt relaxed in the throngs of people that crowded the road. Her mother had been from a large city like this one, and had imparted her knowledge of city life to her daughter before Mina had first run away.

"You there, girl!" A loud voice broke the reprieve of Mina's thoughts. She stopped and looked in the direction of the voice. She stood before the city gates already; the voice belonged to one of the armed guards. 

"Yes?" Mina answered.

"Why are you armed, girl?" the guard asked, stepping toward her. His manner, Mina thought, was very rude.

"Because the weapon is mine?" she intoned. The joke in the reply was lost on the guard; he and his companion moved closer to her, their armor blinding her in the light of the dying sun.

"Besides that fact that no one is allowed to bring arms into the city, what need does a girl have of such a weapon?" the other guard demanded, reaching out his hand like he was expecting a gift. "Hand it over, girl," he finished, reaching for the zanbatou. Mina easily dodged the man's grasping hands and those of his fellow.

"No," she said simply, then smiled, adding, "In case you _boys_ haven't noticed, this country's at war. You wouldn't want a girl walking around defenseless, would you?" Merriment bubbled in her voice and sparkled in her eyes.

"You little bitch!" the first guard shouted, lunging for her. She gracefully danced away from his attack, leaving him to fall face-down on the road as he lost his balance. Cheers rose from the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle. Apparently, these guards were not very popular with those who did business in the city.

The second guard did not think the show was over yet, however. But as he drew his sword, Mina observed from his weak stance that he wasn't a skilled fighter at all. She laughed and held out her zanbatou.

"Look," she said playfully, "mine's bigger than yours—not that it would take much." The crowd laughed and the guard's faced flushed crimson. He ran forward boldly, only to trip over the rising form of his companion. Mina grinned and took a step backward, and bumped into something hard. Startled, she turned around to look up into a face that seemed extremely familiar, yet whose identity Mina could not quite register.

"What's going on here?" the man asked. At the sound of his voice, Mina recognized him at last. She grinned even wider. The two guards scrambled to their feet, almost tripping over each other again in their efforts. 

"Sir!" the one who had rushed her spoke, "She tried to come through the city gates armed, and she wouldn't give us the weapon, sir!"

"She then taunted us, sir!" complained the other. "We proceeded to disarm her, but she evaded our attempt. Now that you're here, sir, this miscreant won't get away!" As he finished speaking, he joined his fellow in glaring fiercely at Mina. She almost laughed.

"Oh really?" their captain said, raising a single eyebrow. "Are you trying to tell me two of this city's fully-trained guards couldn't take a stick from a girl?" The two guards remained silent, their faces turning crimson as the crowd erupted into a new bout of laughter.

"Really, Kwang Jin, could you ever take the stick from this girl?" Mina asked of the captain, spinning to face him. Kwang Jin, former student of the Seung dojo, looked down at her and laughed—a loud and booming sound she remembered well from his days of training at her father's school, 

"No, I guess not!" he replied. The guards looked baffled. 

"Sir?" one of them asked, confused.

"You two stay here," Kwang Jin ordered, placing a hand on Mina's shoulder, "This one can pass, she's with me."

Though neither of the guards looked happy, they both reluctantly agreed and moved back to their post at the gates. Sensing that the show was over, the people gathered in the crowd dispersed and returned to their own business once again. Mina continued through the gates, too, following Kwang as his gesture.

"So," Kwang said, "Little Seung Mina has run away again. What's her father going to do with her?"

"I didn't runaway this time, Kwang," Mina said. "Daddy let me go." 

"I'll believe that when I see it," he replied, shaking his head and chuckling softly under his breath. "Whatever you say, Little Seung." 

Mina chuckled, too. She shouldn't really be surprised to run into a former student of the dojo here. After all, most of them had jobs in the military now. And Kwang was….

"Kwang, you're in the same unit as Hwang, right?" Mina asked, dancing around the people in the busy road to jump in front of him. "You both left the dojo at the same time. Is he with you? Can I see him? I can't wait to tell him that Daddy let me leave, so he won't have to chase after me again!" she blurted out all at once.

Kwang stopped in mid-stride, his smile hardening into a cold, grim visage. Mina felt her stomach clench and cold fear flood her heart. 

"Kwang?" she asked, her voice squeaking at the sudden onset of these emotions. Kwang Jin looked straight at her, his eyes suddenly distant and sad.

"Little Seung, come with me. There's something you need to hear."

Unable to answer around the lump in her throat, Mina nodded. The oncoming evening suddenly seemed very cold as she followed Kwang Jin into a small building. As her eyes adjusted to the musty, candle-lit interior, she observed that it seemed to be used by the Korean army as a tavern for the soldiers. The stench of liquor burned her nose. Men dressed exactly like Kwang lounged around tables with cups of the vile liquid. These were other members of his and Hwang's unit, she realized. She looked around, hoping to catch Hwang's face in the group. But he wasn't there, and her growing fear spiked. The other men all stared back at her, confused.

"Hey, Kwang, you know we're not supposed to bring the women _here_," one said.

"Yeah," another agreed, "we don't want to get in trouble just because you can't wait another few feet to your cot."

"Shut up," Kwang replied harshly. "It's not what you think. This girl is Hwang's…." That silenced the whole tavern. The atmosphere suddenly soured into a dark depression, as if Kwang had poked everyone in a wound that had yet to heal.

One man chuckled, a laugh thick with other emotions as he reached out and gently—almost too gently, Mina thought—took her hand.

"Well, _you're_ certainly not what we expected of _Hwang's_ girl. To hear him and Kwang talk, we all thought you must have fangs ten feet long and fire shooting out of your mouth." 

Mina smiled, but somehow it didn't seem right to laugh. Kwang took her arm and led her to a table in a corner of the tavern. Seating her first, he then took a seat across from her. The room fell deathly quiet.

"Kwang, what's going on?" Mina asked, her voice shaking.

"Little Seung, this isn't going to be easy for you, but you _have_ to listen to me," Kwang said, taking a deep breath. "A week ago, we fought a major battle against the invading Japanese. Their forces were strong, but we managed to defeat them. Barely. In the end, it was more like a slaughter on both sides than a real battle." He shook his head, as if to clear it from a bad memory before continuing. "The casualties were heavy for both sides… do you understand what I'm trying to say, Little Seung?"

Mina shook her head. For some reason, none of this was making sense to her at all. Kwang hung his head, and reached out to take her hands within his.

"Hwang fought bravely beside us all, Little Seung. I've never seen one man cut down do many before. In the chaos of the battle we lost each other. When it was finally over we weren't even able to find his body…." At this, Mina turned white and began to shake violently.

"No," she said, striving for calmness. But the peace only lasted a moment. "You're lying!" she screamed at Kwang, leaping to her feet. The world spun around her. "Where is he?! This was his idea, wasn't it?! Get him out here right now, Kwang! This type of prank wasn't even funny when we were children!!" 

Kwang stood up then, too, and placed his hands on her shoulders. Mina continued to shriek. 

"Get him out here! This _isn't_ funny!" She then broke away from Kwang, turning away from his solemn face and whatever words he was trying to convey to her. 

"Get Hwang out here, now!" she ordered another solider. He simply backed away from her, casting his eyes on the floor. "Someone, get him out here!" she repeated to the room in general, but no one answered her. Another soldier promptly ran outside.

"HWANG!" Mina screamed, looking under tables, behind the bar. "Get your ass out here! This isn't funny! Hwang!" 

Kwang grabbed her again, and in his left hand was something that the running soldier had returned with. Hwang's vest. It was covered in blood stains, and had a large rent in the back. Kwang handed it to her and, as Mina took it in her hands, her world collapsed around her. 

She fell to her knees, her shaking legs no longer able to support her. Tears blurred her vision as she held it up to her face. It was the vest that Hwang always wore. Mina knew this piece of clothing as she knew the man who had worn it; she had known that man as she knew herself. 

When she felt Kwang's hand on her shoulder, the touch felt distant—it was as if her body was in a completely different world than her. 

"I'm sorry Little Seung," whispered Kwang, his voice choked with sorrow. "Hwang is dead."

Mina began to scream.

Mina woke up on a hard cot, the cold night air washing over her in a chill breeze. She closed her eyes again, suddenly remembering that she didn't want to wake up. She didn't know if she ever wanted to be awake ever again. She wanted to dismiss everything as a nightmare. But deep inside her, she knew everything Kwang had said was true. The blood-stained vest she clutched to her chest was all the proof she needed that her nightmare was very, very real, indeed.

When Mina blinked her eyes open again, they burned. All their moisture had been lost to tears. She heard movement next to her, and tried to sit up too see what it was. She just barely made out Kwang's face in the darkness. 

"Kwang, how did I get here?" she asked softly. Her throat burned, too.

"You passed out," he explained, "I thought it best to bring you here to the barracks to rest, Little Seung."

"Oh. What time is it?"

"Early morning. The sun will rise soon."

"Oh," she said again. "I should get going, then." Mina tried to rise from the cot, but Kwang held her down.

"Where are you going this time, Little Seung, that Master Seung has let you run off on your own?"

"White Storm was stolen," Mina whispered. Somehow it didn't seem important anymore. "I have to find the thief and take him and the sword back to the dojo."

"You'll need a horse and supplies for that, Little Seung."

"I suppose," Mina replied, choking on rising tears, "But it doesn't really matter anymore." She clutched Hwang's vest to her breast. "Nothing really matters anymore."

"Seung Mina!" Kwang exclaimed and Mina looked up, shocked by the use of her full name. "What would Hwang say to that? He loved your father's school, loved the weapons there. Do you honestly think his spirit can rest while White Storm is missing? Most of all, he loved you. Do you think his spirit can rest while knowing that his fiery Mina has been reduced to just another crying girl?" 

Mina blinked once, then again. Her eyes still burned, but that didn't seem to matter. She smiled.

"You're right," she said, "I do need a horse. And supplies. I want to leave before the sun rises." Kwang smiled.

"A horse and supplies are all ready for you, Little Seung," he said. "Anything else?"

"Can I keep this vest?" Mina asked, holding Hwang's vest tightly to her.

"Of course you can, Little Seung. That way, Hwang will always be with you. And you wouldn't want to go off with out Hwang close behind you to watch you, would you, Little Seung?" Mina smiled, a smile closer to her true smile.

"No I wouldn't." She stood up, still holding Hwang's vest tightly. "I don't feel right in running off if the great Hwang Sung Kyung isn't a step behind me at all times." 

Kwang smiled, and showed Mina to the stables. He had readied a horse for her, and more supplies that she thought she would need. When she asked, Kwang told her to think nothing of it. The stallion had been Hwang's, the supplies part of a surplus. The stallion's coat was chestnut brown, a color not far from Hwang's eyes. Kwang didn't know its name, so she named the horse Kyung, Hwang's given name. 

Mina left the city as the sun rose over a drastically changed world. Riding hard, she only knew that she had to find Yun Sung and White Storm before trying to decide how to live her life without Hwang. Wrapped around Scarlet Thunder was Hwang's turquoise, white and plum vest. 

As she rode into the mountains, the early morning air took the sting off her grief, and determination rose once again within her. She was so engrossed in the trail that she never noticed the eyes watching her from above.

* * *

The beast watched the six-legged animal travel along the path below. Food had been extremely scarce since the violent warring of the humans had driven most of the wildlife deeper into the mountains. The beast needed to stay near the walled human habitat, however, for it was wounded and weak. Humans were about the only creature slow and weak enough for it to successfully kill….

Or so the man who called himself Assassin surmised. He had stalked the huge beast all morning. Though it was wounded, it was extremely dangerous. It looked like a bear that had been twisted into the shape of--Assassin didn't even know what--something unnatural. Its muscled, stocky body slinked along the ground on massive, sinewy legs that ended in short claws. It had a pronounced mane, like a lion's, the hair matted into dreadlocks. And embedded in its forehead glittered something dark and metallic. A shard. For this reason, Assassin followed the creature. The beast was intent on stalking its prey, distracted enough that Assassin had been able to draw steadily closer to it without the creature detecting his presence. Soon, he would strike and claim its shard—perhaps when it was indulging in its own kill, when it would be completely off-guard.

Assassin found himself watching the creature's prey, growing impatient for the beast to attack. It was a girl dressed in red clothing and carrying a long, bladed stick. She rode a large chestnut horse; both girl and horse seemed completely oblivious to their impending deaths. The beast drew closer the girl and her mount, and Assassin followed eagerly. Her features were becoming clearer, now. She had long, brown hair, braided and also pushed back from her face with a red headband. She was slight of figure, but nicely curved—this he could see because of her rather revealing, split skirt. His eyes trailed back to her face. She might even be pretty, but he doubted that he would get close enough to see before the beast marred her entire body beyond recognition.

Assassin felt a pang in his neck and rubbed his shard. _Recognition…. _There was something he recognized about the girl. It seemed impossible, but… she seemed familiar. Was she… the young woman whom he sometimes saw in his dreams? In another few minutes, he would never find out.

Assassin broke from the tangle of his thoughts and closed the distance between himself and the beast. He launched himself on its back, just as it hunched back on its hindquarters to pounce down on the trail below, throwing its balance off. The beast snarled and stopped its leap short. Assassin tumbled off its coarse-haired back, but not before delivering two sharp slashes with his sword. He rolled quickly to his feet, and felt the sting of the beast's claws to his chest in repayment for the bite he had delivered with his weapon. The force of the blow knocked him back against a rocky outcropping. The enraged beast came at him again, but he dodged its swipe and hacked at its sinewy legs. It stumbled as it lurched at him again. Wounded before, it was now seriously hurt. Black blood poured openly from its back and its legs, matting its fur and staining the rocky landscape. Assassin delivered a final blow to its bear-like head, removing the shard there and putting the beast out of its misery in a single blow.

For a moment afterwards, he just held the gleaming black shard in his hands. What was he supposed to do with it? How could he draw upon its power, now that he had collected it? His heart throbbed, and suddenly he knew. Spreading open the wound in chest, he thrust the shard into his body. His chest seemed to close up around it, instantly healing the rent in his flesh. It still hurt, however—even more so than before. He touched the cold lump in his chest, telling himself that the pain would fade as with any other wound. Then, wiping smears of his own blood onto his dark clothing, he peered down at the former prey that traversed the mountain trail.

Whoever she was, she didn't know how lucky she was. And yes, yes she was pretty. Her face was round and her eyes were dark. Perhaps it was the face that taunted him at night after all. He touched the shard in his chest, and seemed to recall that her weapon was a zanbatou, called Scarlet Thunder. She had wielded it against him many times…. His chest throbbed with the memory of the pain she had inflicted on him.

Assassin became enraged. Why had he bothered to save the life of someone who had been enemy to him? Why was his enemy the only piece of his past that he remembered? Frustration and anger roiled inside of him, until he almost leaped down onto the trail to finish the killing that the beast had aborted. But he stayed himself; he couldn't be sure that his girl was the same young woman from his dreams. He needed to get closer, to see her face, without her becoming aware of him. That would be best accomplished when she slept.

To Assassin's extreme disgruntlement, the girl continued to travel well past dark. Keeping up with her was tiresome work, as she had the advantage of a horse. Weary and frustrated, he again considered killing her. At least the horse would provide a good meal. Then he would rest, and forget all about the great inconvenience she had caused him. Again, he stayed himself.

He only had to wait another half-mile before the girl brought the horse to a halt. She moved off of the trail into a wooded hollow, an ideal shelter for the night. But then she was pushing through the brush of the trees.

"What are you doing, stupid girl?" Assassin whispered angrily. He lost sight of her beneath the treetops. He bounded along the rocks above her, no longer concerning himself with remaining hidden behind them, until a break finally showed itself in the trees. 

The girl had removed her clothing and now stood before the swift-flowing waters of a stream. She dipped a foot into it tentatively. Assassin stared at the perfect curve of her leg, then traced it all the way up to her shoulder blades. He couldn't help but stare through the treetops, wishing desperately that she would turn around so he could see the other half of her perfection. An instant later, he chided himself for the wish. If he became too distracted, he might accidentally give away his presence. 

The girl worked her way slowly into the water, until half of her body was submerged by the mountain stream. As Assassin watched, she released her long hair from its braid and let it float across the surface in spidery tendrils. She looked like a river goddess. He gasped softly, then stilled himself to complete motionless as she glanced up over his shoulder. Her eyes scanned the trees around her, but never once did they drift up to his hiding place. He slowly relaxed, and the girl gradually lowered her entire body into the stream. The current churned around her round breasts as she moved her hands across her body. _Bathing, _Assassin reminded himself, but the mundane event was extremely interesting. Even… arousing. He felt feverishly warm. 

The girl arched her head back into the stream and worked her fingers through her hair. _Washing it, _Assassin told himself, but he felt that she purposely displayed her body in the most alluring of angles. She appeared to be composed of pure softness and curves, but even from this distance he could see the solidness of her arms. She had the strength of a fighter.

He wanted to watch her forever, and was disappointed when she stepped from the stream to redress. But he knew better than to linger here, where her fighter's instincts might finally alert her to his presence. He slinked away silently from the treetops, back to the rocky shelter of the mountain. When she slept, he would finally see her face in detail. 

_I must remember…._

__

__* * *

Seung Mina was exhausted. A full day's ride had worn her body, not to mention her still tattered and bruised emotions. But, on the upside, she didn't have to _walk_ the distance, so she had progressed much, much farther than she would have ever traveled on foot. And the cool bath in the stream had done much to relax her—for the most part. 

However, she couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been watching her the entire time. Feeling uneasy, she had rushed her bath. The feeling still clung to her, as well as the feeling that some of the trail's dirt still soiled her skin. Had someone from the city followed her? Mina found that unlikely; the only people who knew which direction she traveled were the members of Hwang's unit and Kwang, none of whom had any intentions of following her. It made no sense that anyone at all from the city would follow her. 

Mina shook her head, swearing under her breath. She still couldn't shake the feeling that someone was close by. But she wouldn't be able to function without sleep. As it was, she was surprised that she had made it through the day with her grief still stinging and fresh.

Walking up to Kyung, she patted the chestnut stallion.

"You holding together, Kyung?" she asked the horse as she pulled some dried rations and rice cakes out of one of the large saddle bags. The horse didn't answer, but the sound of her own voice was relaxing to Mina. "Good," she told the horse, as if she had heard a reply, "because I don't know if _I _am." She took her comb from another bag. Sitting down on a blanket, she combed out the tangles from her hair and tidied her wet locks back from her face before she started to eat. She looked at Kyung again; the horse was happily munching on some grass.

"Today has been one of the longest days of my life," Mina said idly, "although, I suppose it was _yesterday_ I found out." She started to eat, too, taking large bites out of a rice cake. "It's strange, that someone's life can change so much in a few minutes, isn't it?" She smiled.

Talking to Kyung, the horse, was easier than talking to Hwang, the person, had ever been. She choked back tears; she shouldn't cry now. Grief shouldn't be allowed until all was finished. 

"Oh, it's so hard _not_ to cry right now," Mina said quietly. Without thinking, she reached for Scarlet Thunder and unwrapped Hwang's turquoise vest from the weapon. The beautiful blue-green fabric had been marred by blood stains and the rend in the back, "Hwang," she said softly as she clutched the vest to her, hugging it close, "why couldn't I tell you how I felt? I almost did, the night you left," she laughed sadly, "It came out as 'good luck' and 'be safe' and 'kick their asses' instead. I was _so_ mad at myself. Now I guess you'll never know.

"Damn you, Hwang! You always had to go off with out me, didn't you? See what happens when Seung Mina isn't a step ahead of you?" Mina lowered her head and her loose hair tumbled forward to obscure her vision. "I don't know if I can go on without you, after this is done. But I. . .I have to get White Storm back! This is the first time Daddy has ever _let_ me go. 

"I wanted you to know that, too, and to see your face when you realized that I could take care of myself… that I'm not a child anymore. That maybe, from then on we could go on grand adventures together," Mina couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "Why did you have to go, Hwang? Why couldn't you have stayed with me instead? Is the whole country that much more important to you than me?" Mina cried, burrowing her face into Hwang's vest. Even after all it had been through, it still smelled like him. She could almost imagine that he was close by, watching her.

The horse came up and nuzzled her shoulder. Mina lifted her face from the vest and hugged the horse in return. 

"You, Kyung, are such a good listener, unlike the real one," she said softly. Mina wiped away her tears and managed to finish the rest of her meal. She then took a bedroll from the horse.

"Now, you'd better get some sleep, Kyung. We have to leave early tomorrow if we're going to catch up to that baby, 'kay? Remember, no one likes a lazy horse," she said. She could have sworn she heard the horse snort in reply. She laughed, feeling a little better.

Mina snuggled under the bedroll, not bothering to remove her clothing. At home she normally slept naked, a habit that had been killed during her first time away from home, when she had been attacked by bandits and had had to fight wearing nothing but her bare skin and Scarlet Thunder. Trying to put such idle thoughts aside, she pulled Hwang's bloodstained vest close to her and clung to it like she had an old rag doll when she was a child. She fell asleep easily, sung to sleep by the sounds of the early summer around her. The last thing Mina saw before she fell asleep was Hwang's face.

_Hwang stood over her, his eyes glowing with a strange, metallic light. His chest was covered in blood, and torn by the claws of some animal. Mina called out to him, but he didn't answer. His eyes were cold. She called out again, but it was almost like he didn't recognize her. He stared at her blankly, as if he didn't know who she was. As Mina reached out to him, Hwang raised his sword to skewer her on his blade. In the distance, she heard an animal-like scream…._

Mina's eyes shot open and she rolled out her bedroll to avoid the sword blow. She grasped Scarlet Thunder and held it in a ready position, crouched low to the ground. Nothing was there. She stared at the stop where she was certain a sword had threatened to strike her sleeping body, then looked to Kyung. The horse danced around, panicked, trying to break the rope that held him in place. Mina continued looking around the small camp site, but saw nothing. She stood slowly, still breathing heavily, still holding the zanbatou in a ready stance. Was there really no one there?

Aware to everything around her to the point of hyper-sensitivity, the feeling of being watched was now a hundred times stronger than before. Moving as fast as she could, she saddled and mounted Kyung, cutting the rope that held the horse in place, reasoning she could get a new rope at any village along the way, as long as she got out of there, _now._

Seung Mina spurred the horse and rode hard for the rest of the night, holding Scarlet Thunder one hand and the reins in the other. Yet she was unable to shake the feeling that she was being watched.

* * *

As soon as Assassin had returned to the rocky outcropping above the trail, he heard hoofbeats pounding along the dusty path. His heart still racing from the frightening encounter—_she awakened too quickly!_—he hesitated only a moment before sprinting after her. 

_Shards, give me strength, _he prayed as he pursued her. His legs carried him swiftly and silently, until his heart almost stopped from the overexertion. _I just… can't keep up, _he cursed himself as he stumbled to a halt. The dust from the horse's hoofbeats had long settled. He would have to make up the time and distance tomorrow. The girl was following a simply path through the mountains, making no effort to disguise her trail. He would catch up to her before she emerged into the desert beyond. But now… now, he must rest.

Assassin dropped to the ground and bundled himself in his cloak. _There's no mistake that she is the same girl from my dreams, _he reflected. He still couldn't remember her name, but he knew that her zanbatou was called Scarlet Thunder. It was strange… the girl was was so obviously a hardened fighter has also seemed so vulnerable, as she had sobbed and babbled about things that made little sense to Assassin. He did understand, however, that she was following someone. Someone whom she loved… she'd called him Kyung, or something like that. She had mentioned something about a "White Storm," a weapon, most likely, that her lover had stolen as well as her heart. So his enemy had a weak spot. 

Images flashed in the dark reaches of his memory. He sparred with a young man… a mere boy, really, with eyes as big as a pup's. The boy threw down his sword before the round was complete and ran off with a scowl. Then the girl stomped up to Assassin and flung the blade of her zanbatou toward him. She mouthed something at him, and all of a sudden he was fighting a battle that he couldn't win. He could not even get in a single hit with his sword, before he was lying on the ground with the world spinning away from him.

_Wretched girl, _he thought angrily as the memory faded into mirk. Yet his hatred was tainted with hot jealousy. He suddenly was uncertain as to what he would do to the girl when he caught up to her. He wasn't sure what punishment he could force his enemy to serve, for taunting his lust as well as forcing him on an impossible pursuit for his missing memories.

_I need more of my memories. That's the only reason I want her. Afterwards, I will kill her,_ he told himself before drifting off into the sleep of exhaustion.

Assassin woke before the dawn, his energy renewed. He felt stronger and faster than he had ever felt before. His two shards pulsed in time with his excited heartbeat, sending new energy to his muscles as he raced after the girl's trail. With the increased energy, however, came an increased appetite. His body needed food; his subconscious called out for more shards. As midday approached, he began searching for a source to feed both his body and mind. 

He soon sensed fresh blood in the distance, beyond the taint of the girl's trail. Something was lying in wait in the mountains ahead. Man or beast, the girl would soon satisfy its wait. Unless Assassin made a quick meal of it first. He bounded ahead with increased speed, his frenzy for blood driving him as much as his desire to save the girl for his own purposes. 

He overtook her a few miles later, but blew past her with barely a rustle of his dark clothing. If she spotted him, she would only sense that a large, dark bird had flown by overhead. 

Assassin stopped his flight a few miles later. The presence of the shard was strong. He crouched down, panting through his veil for breath. Beneath him. He scrambled across the rocks until they dropped away in a short cliff. He leaped down, and spun around to find himself facing the dark opening of a cave. Within, the intoxicating aura of the shard was strong and sweet. He sniffed the air as if he could not only feel it, but smell it, wondering what manner of creature possessed it. 

He did not have to wait long. A moment after discovering the cave, a man appeared at its mouth. He was a hastily designed human being, dressed in once-fine clothing that did not fit his large figure well and carrying a curved sword. No sooner had Assassin made this assessment than three other men appeared behind their comrade.

"Drop your sword and anything else of value you might have on you, before we cut you up and have to search your body ourselves," the first man commanded.

"Drop your swords, all of you. Fight me and your deaths will only be more painful," Assassin replied coldly. His words sounded strange to his ears… how long had it been since he had spoken to another human being?

"I think you misunderstand your place. We're the bandits, here!" cried the leader as he sprung upon Assassin with his blade. His hand was surprisingly quick; even expecting the attack, Assassin barely spun away from the blow, and he still suffered a slight cut from it. He countered with a slashing strike, but the man evaded it easily. The other bandits began closing in on Assassin, and he realized he would have to kill them first. His blood cried out for the shard that the leader carried, but the delay would only make acquiring it that much more sweet. Quickly, he let the first of the goons feel the length of his blade. It was a single strike that arced back to strike another, even before the man's bowels spilled from the clean slice. His new target staggered back, goggling at his disemboweled comrade as he fended off Assassin's blow. 

The leader was not so distracted by the kill, and launched a new attack on Assassin. The man was unnaturally quick. Perhaps it was the dark shard embedded in his arm, or perhaps the bulky man professed an unusual amount of grace for his build. Assassin's only concern now was killing the man's two comrades while avoiding his swift blows. He guarded the man's blade, and the two of them were forced away from each other by the impact. Assassin recovered first, but saved his attack for one of the goons. He kicked the man's legs out from under him, then leaped up to avoid another blow from the leader. Assassin let his blade take the force of his gravity as he slashed down on the fallen man's head. He spun to face the leader again, but not quickly enough. The man's blows rained down on him, quicker than lightning.

Assassin moved away in a moment's reprieve, his own blood mixing with his fallen foe's as he rolled over it and braced himself for a new onslaught. The remaining henchman grunted and kicked him, but Assassin grabbed his foot with his free hand and twisted it. He then pushed the man back, forcing him onto the leader's blade. The bandit leader removed his blade, and with it came a bloody stream. 

Assassin was well on his feet by now, and not about to let the leader close in on him with another relentless attack. He launched one of his own, striking out with alternating horizontal and vertical movements. The leader tossed the body of his man aside, and blocked each of Assassin's blows in a single fluid motion. He even dodged the low blow to his knees.

_It's the shard. It had to be. He's so fast! _Assassin thought in frustration. What couldn't the bandit leader block? What wouldn't he expect? _It's in his arm. I have to get his arm, _Assassin told himself. But the arm was too quick. He had to think one step ahead of the man, he warned himself as he blocked two horizontal strikes. Yes, that was it. The next would be a vertical slash. As the man finished his horizontal thrust, Assassin immediately countered with a horizontal strike of his own, and hit home. _Just a few more, _he told himself as the two men danced around each other with drawn swords.

But after just a few more, the bandit leader became wise to Assassin's game. He grabbed Assassin and threw him to the ground, impaling him with his sword. _His arm. _The thought flickered briefly in his mind, and then he held the severed limb at the end of his sword. The leader stumbled back, clutching at his stump of an arm. Assassin rose and beat the man over the head with his own limb, then kicked him to the ground. The shard was finally his. No man should ever be faster than him, now.

* * *

Mina rode her horse hard into the mid part of the day. She reflected on the previous night's events for the entire ride; part of her was still shaking from the combination of the dream and being awoken so suddenly, only to never see her attacker. She wished she had seen _something_. It was almost too much to believe that whoever had been standing over her had disappeared into thin air. What bothered her even more was the dream she had before hand—why would she be dreaming of Hwang? 

_Grief must be getting to me,_ Mina thought, chiding herself. Grief had its place, and it was not here. She had a task to complete and a pursuer to avoid, before she could allow tears to fall. It galled her to know that the tears she cried last night had been watched by someone with no compassion for her.

Kyung started to slow, and Mina realized that the horse needed some rest, lest she run the poor beast into the ground and send it to join his former master. Mina let the horse slow, biting down the temptation to spur it on again as a large black shape sped overhead, between the rocks above the trail. _Just a bird, Mina,_ she told herself, trying to remain calm. Get_ a grip!_

The stallion stopped, its need for rest obvious. Mina sighed. She couldn't force the stubborn beast on at the former pace. She dismounted easily and looked around her. She wasn't that far away from the end of the mountains, she felt sure. Her father's many lessons had not ended with swords and sticks. He employed a large army of tutors—a solider who could not write or read orders, who did not know geography, who couldn't find north on a starless night, was useless. And so Seung Mina had learned her lessons with the rest of her students, sometimes thinking that her father was a little harder on her than all the others. But at least she knew where she was going. She doubted Yun Sung knew that much.

Mina took a waterskin from its place on the horse's saddle and drank the cool, refreshing liquid. She looked over at Kyung and smiled apologetically. 

"Sorry boy," she said softly, "I don't mean to run you so hard, but only a little break, okay? We _have_ to get to Yun Sung soon."

The horse snorted, and again Mina was left with the impression that it had answered her. Had Hwang talked to it in this way too? The question poked her again in her wounded heart. Swearing under her breath, she grabbed Scarlet Thunder. Some practice was just what she needed, and would give the horse the rest it required.

Mina swung the well balanced zanbatou easily, the sound of the blade cutting through the air soothing to her. High swings, low swings, twirling the long dangerous blade as if it were nothing more than a child's baton she moved. When her mother was still alive, she had always likened the Kata to a dance. The further Mina progressed, the more of a dance it became. She twirled on the blade, jumping as she whirling it through the air and bringing it crashing to the ground. She finished with a favorite move that had taken years to perfect, and she had finally mastered complete control of under her Chinese teacher; a perfect balance on the edge of the blade, holding her body high in the air as if on one stilt, looking at the world upside down before crashing it into the ground in front of her. 

She finished, shaking herself off and hefting the large weapon to rest easily on her shoulders. The practice had cleared her head, but not completely. She still felt uneasy. She wished she could find Yun Sung right away, and head back to the Seung dojo immediately. If she remembered correctly, the mountain range gave way to a desert. Small villages dotted the desert and surely there she would find some clue. That baby was sure to stop somewhere for a pampered rest in an inn.

Mina walked back to Kyung. The horse nibbled contentedly at some plants growing to the side of the trail. When she whistled, the stallion looked up and walked toward her easily, abandoning its snack. _What a well trained horse,_ Mina thought as she mounted.

She continued along the winding mountain trail, no longer pushing the horse. She knew that if she killed the chestnut stallion, whoever was following her would have that much of an easier time catching her… a prospect that she didn't enjoy in the slightest.

Mina rode without event for the better part of an hour before the coppery scent of blood stung her nose. That was the only warning she had for the sight that greeted her just ahead on the trail. She gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Even though she had seen dead men before, indeed she had killed some herself in self-defense, she had never seen dead men quite like _this._

One man was disemboweled, his innards scattered across the ground, painting the dirt and grass beneath him a sickly array of colors. One man's head was split down the middle, the wound hardly clean, bits of brain and blood across his face. Another looked liked he had been stabbed from behind, the wound running from his neck down to his chest, blood pooling beneath him. The last man was missing his arm, and from the looks of it, the arm had been taken as some sort of trophy, for it was nowhere around the carnage. The Severed-Arm man also sported a head wound and a large gapping hole in his chest. The sight almost made Mina vomit. Who could do such things to these men? True, they were most likely bandits… but no one deserved to die like this. Whoever had done this had not even taken the time to bury them and offer up the simplest of prayers. Not that there was much left to bury.

Mina looked around for a path around the bodies, not having the time or the tools to bury them. She did feel sorry for the men, almost as sorry as she felt for stumbling on such a sight, but she had learned quickly her first time away from home that the real world had little care for such concerns. Dismounting, she lead Kyung through a wooded path that wouldn't bloody his hoofs—Mina had no desire to make her trail more obvious than she was sure it was.

She offered a silent prayer that the men would find the way to the homes of their ancestors as she finished weaving around the carnage. She looked back, her face sad and disgusted; she hoped she would never have to see the _creature_ that did such things, for surely no man would kill like that.

"Let's get out of here, Kyung," she said to the horse, spurring it on once more. Dirt rose from Kyung's hooves in clouds, leaving a fine dust covering over the dead men as she headed out of the mountain range and into the foothills. The foothills would lead to the desert. And from there she would find Yun Sung.

The village was so small that Mina almost overlooked it. If it weren't for the fresh graves in the sand, she would have simply ridden past it, looking aimlessly for the next town. A search that could cost her life in the desert.

She rode into the village slowly, looking around as she did so. It was obvious that the residents here had been through a large battle. Mina knew this town was closer to the sea shore, despite being a desert. It was very likely that they had felt the touch of the invading Japanese.

A villager approached her warily, and heavy and western style gun trained on her. 

"Who are you?" he asked, his tone as harsh as the late day sun.

"My name is Seung Mina and I'm-"

"From the Seung dojo? In Chili-san?" the peasant asked, his tone disbelieving and relieved at the same time. Mina was shocked.

"Yes, how did you know that?" A crowd was gathering; Mina grew uncomfortable. 

"A warrior from your dojo passed through here a few days ago. He saved us all," the man said, lowering his firearm, "Are you the owner of his school? You have its name?" he observed, apparently confused by the fact that she was a woman.

"The school is my father's," she answered. "Who was it that came this way?" she asked, holding her breath. It could be someone other than Yun Sung… her dojo had trained many fighters who were now out on their own.

"None other than the great Hong Yun Sung," The man answered proudly, as if knowing the man was a great boon. Unable to help herself, Mina burst out laughing. She looked down at the gathered crowd of villagers, each one of them eyeing her with strange looks.

"Would somebody here be so kind to tell me where the 'Great Hong Yun Sung' is? And what happened here?" she asked. The man walked forward; it was obvious now that he was the head of this village. 

"We would be honored," he said. "It's a long story though, best told indoors away from the sun. We do have a tavern, if you would join us there…?" 

"Gladly," Mina said, happy for whatever excuse she could use to get her out of the hot rays of the sun, even if only for a little while. A boy took her Kyung to be fed and watered in the village stable and Mina gladly followed the village head into the tavern. Over food and a cup of liquor, which Mina drank only to be polite, he unfolded the tale of the great Hong the Brave. It took all of her willpower to keep from laughing during the tale, but at the same time she couldn't help but be a little impressed. _If he organized this,_ she thought, _he's grown up some. That baby actually has some guts in him._

She let the village head finish his story of the Japanese warriors and the battle before asking her questions. The first thing out of her mouth was, "Is he still here?"

The village head shook his head a negative, "No, Lady Seung, he left shortly after the battle. In what is sure to be a great and prosperous quest for him, he told us he sought the Patriot Sword to save Korea from the invading Japanese."

At that Mina nearly spit out her food. Any respect that had bloomed for the young warrior quickly withered. _That idiot!_ she thought, but didn't say it. It was obvious that the villagers here thought the world of Yun Sung and Mina didn't want to spoil that, especially since he had earned their respect honorably. _He has no idea what the hell he's getting into. He'll be killed! And I'll never get White Storm back. Then Daddy will kill **me!**_

"Did you happen to see which direction he went in? It's very important that I know, you see," Mina said, "I have an _urgent_ message to deliver to him."

"He went north," The village head said without hesitation, "But surely you don't have to leave now? It would honor us greatly to offer you a place to sleep for the night, Lady Seung."

Mina bit her lip. The offer was seriously tempting. However, not only did she need to catch up with Yun Sung, but now she needed to look for that damned sword again—all the while evading whoever was following her. As tempting as it was to sleep under a roof tonight, Mina couldn't do it. She had to keep moving. She couldn't let whoever had stalked her last night catch up with her.

"I'm afraid I can't," she said, shaking her head, "but I thank you for your offer."

"In that case, let us at least offer you supplies. We couldn't send you away with nothing," the village head persisted. Mina looked around, observing that the village didn't seem able to _spare_ the supplies they offered. She did need one thing, however.

"Do you guys have any rope? And a couple blankets? That's all I really need. I could even afford to leave some of my supplies here for you. You need them more than I do…."

"We couldn't take anything from you, Lady Seung," he said, "but we will gladly get you what you asked for."

"Thank you," Mina said sincerely, "Now, I really have to get going." She stood up.

"Of course," the village said, taking to his feet as well. "Your horse will be here for you in a moment."

"Great," Mina said, bowing quickly to the village head. While he brought her horse, she took the spare time to brush out and braid her hair—a task that, due to the haste last night, she had never gotten around to. The villagers gathered what she had asked for, and then Mina was off, the sun already falling below the horizon. She thanked the village head one more time from astride her horse before taking off to the North. She felt eyes on her once more, and the feeling lingered long after she left the village. 


	4. Chapter Three

  


Series: Soul Calibur

Rating: R

Authors: Sephira jo (sephirajo@yahoo.com) and Cap'n Dampeal (capndampeal@lycos.com)

Story: White Reflections 

Part 3/?? (the prologue counts as a part)

Archive: With Permission only

Disclaimer: We don't own this game! Namco does! If we owned it, the characters would be seriously fucked. 'Cause we like to mess with characters minds. Oh yeah. ^-^

Authors' notes: There's some serious angst in this chapter. But we both hope you enjoy it! Remember, it will all work out in the end.

  
  
  


**Chapter Three**

  


Hong Yun Sung sighed into the flames of the campfire, breathing with the effort it had cost him to start. He'd never actually had to sleep outside and make a fire before. Come to think of it, he hadn't planned on camping outside during his quest for the Patriot Sword at all. He had assumed he would travel from village to village, but such villages seemed scarce in the desert. Well, sleeping outside would save him some coins, at least. He patted the pouch that contained his life savings and frowned. The coins suddenly seemed all too few. He let the pouch swing back into place. It clanked against White Storm, the sword he had stolen from the Seung dojo. 

_No! I didn't steal it. Seung Mina gave it to me! To borrow, at least. I'm not doing anything wrong by taking it. Besides, I'll use it to get the Patriot Sword and save my country! …and make Hwang acknowledge me as a warrior. _He pulled White Storm from his belt and held it up to the firelight. It had the power to show his true feelings, Seung Mina had said. He had experienced that power and knew it to be true. _Mina…. _For an instant, he thought he saw her face stare back at him from the reflection in the blade. Then he nearly dropped White Storm into the fire when Kiri screamed from where she was tethered. As Sung's reverie shattered into pieces around him, a low growl erupted from just beyond the light of the fire. Sung rose into a ready, crouching position as the menacing ball of bristling fur and sharp claws leaped toward the fire. By the white crescent pattern on the creature's chest, he identified it as a Moon Bear—a cub. It was also dangerously mad, for no animal would approach a fire like that.

"Get away, bear," Sung warned it, waving White Storm menacingly. He suddenly felt as frightened as when the Japanese soldier had discovered him hiding in the tavern. The beat cub ignored him and began to creep around the fire toward him.

"I have no food," Sung told it. If the creature got too close, he would have to kill it. He had become a little more accustomed to killing since the events in the village. The villagers even considered him a hero after he'd recovered from his first kill and helped plan a counterattack that had saved the small farming community. But Sung had a weak spot for animals—killing this baby bear would be like slaughtering a child.

The little beat reared up on its back legs, extending itself from a ball of fury into a monster that was almost as tall as the crouching Sung. Its claws glinted in the firelight, as well as an extra claw protruding from the pad of its front left foot. No, it wasn't a claw, but a large splinter. _Poor thing. No wonder it's upset, _Sung sympathized. 

Suddenly, the cub barreled toward him on all four paws. Thinking quickly, Sung grappled the cub as it lunged for his throat. He yanked the thing away by the thick scruff of its neck and pinned it down on the ground. It squealed in mad fury, and Kiri snorted and stamped in concern for her master. Sung then grabbed its front left paw and yanked out the long, thick splinter. The cub yelped, but no blood oozed from the wound. He continued to hold it to the ground as it thrashed and squirmed. It was a challenge to keep his hands away from the four slashing claws, until the cub finally calmed down.

"Are you alright, now?" Sung asked, releasing the bear cub from his hold. The bear bolted to its feet, but did not resume its attack. "It was just a splinter," he told it. Or was it? He held the thing closer to the firelight. It was long and sharp, like the claw he first imagined it to be. But it possessed a dull sheen like that of metal. If it was a shard of metal, however, it was unlike any metal he had ever seen. It was probably valuable. Sung slipped it into his pouch with the coins.

The bear cub looked patiently up at Yun Sung.

"What do you want now? I told you I don't have any more food. I ate everything I cooked tonight, and I don't think bears eat rice cakes." But it kept up the pitiful expression until Sung broke down and procured a rice cake from his travel sack. The beat took it into its two front paws and nibbled at it hungrily.

"You're a cute little one," Sung gushed. "Where's your mom?" The cub went right on eating, then curled up next to the fire as if to go to sleep. 

"I suppose I'd best go to sleep, too. And you too, Kiri," he called to his horse. He put out the fire and banked a layer of sandy dirt over it. Dusting his hands off on his cloak, he then wrapped himself into its folds for warmth. "Maybe tomorrow I'll sleep in a real bed again," he wished as he drifted into sleep.

  


The bear cub was still there in the morning, and trotted behind Kiri all day as Yun Sung made his way through the desert. When it began to tire, he scooped up the little bear and let it ride with him in the saddle. It was rather heavy despite its small size. Kiri did not like this at first, but gradually warmed up to the idea as the day wore on. The mare didn't fidget at all by the time Yun Sung rode into the next village.

The village thrived with more life than the last one. The street was lined with tents and shops, and shopkeepers and traveling merchants zealously hawked their wares to passersby. The climate itself had more life, as a narrow river wound its way through the village to split off into thousands of tiny channels and reservoirs. Scattered farming plots were interspersed with gardens of herbs and flowers. Yun Sung gaped at the scenery. The village was an oasis compared to the dusty landscape he had traveled through until now.

The village had not one ramshackle inn, but too goodly sized ones. Sung started for the one surrounded by garden, but the all-too-slight weight in his purse directed him toward the shabbier of the two. Still, it was nicer than the inn in the last town.

The innkeeper seemed completely enthralled with Yun Sung and the bear cub. She offered him a free room if he would show off the bear in the common room. He was uneasy about the idea at first, and tried to tell the innkeeper that he was not a performer, but her insistence was backed by the "oohs" and "ahhs" of a growing crowd. Before he knew it, he was getting a free meal on top of the free room, and all he needed to do was hope the cub would act cute in front of an audience. It didn't seem to mind the attention it was receiving now, so how hard could it be?

It turned out to be even easier than Yun Sung hoped. The audience in the common room of the inn was totally enthralled by offering bits of their food to the bear.

"What's its name?" asked a woman as the cub took a chunk of chicken from her plate. 

"Uh, just 'Bear'," Sung replied. The woman crooned to it, calling it "such a nice bear," and then other people wanted to feed Bear pieces of their chicken, too. 

"You're going to get spoiled," Sung told it, but he was relieved that Bear was taking the attention well. So far, it hadn't reverted into the ball of fury that he had first encountered.

Not quite everyone in the common room was quite so amused by Bear, however. One woman watched Yun Sung sullenly from the back of the room. He kept catching her glare in the corner of his eye, and he couldn't help but notice how heavily her large breasts rested atop her crossed arms. They just seemed to pop out of her green tunic. She also wore large shoulder plates, their black metal detailed in gold. A ninja sword peeked over the back of her shoulder. Sung blushed and looked away when he realized he was staring. _She's not as pretty as Mina, though. _

She was still there, glaring from the back of the room, when Yun Sung decided that Bear had had enough attention. The crowd laughed joyously when, by chance, Bear happened to raise his paw in what could be interpreted as a wave of goodbye. Yun Sung gathered the heavy little bundle, which now smelled strongly of chicken, into his arms and hauled it off to their room upstairs. 

He was stopped in the hallway by the ninja in green.

"Um, do you want something?" he asked nervously. From the expression on her face, she seemed about to end his life right there in the hallway.

"You have the stench of the Soul Edge on you," she replied, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Yun Sung said, his hand dropping to White Storm's hilt. Bear hissed.

"Put that animal away, and we'll find out. Meet me by the bridge in an hour, or I'll take your life by sunrise," the woman replied ominously before stalking back into the common room. Yun Sung's fingers remained clenched on White Storm's hilt for several, throbbing heartbeats after she left. 

_A duel. Why? _He considered just taking Kiri from the stables and leaving, but he was loathe to forfeit his free room in the comfortable inn. _I've killed a dozen Japanese invaders. I can take on one little ninja, _he tried to convince himself. Except that the woman wasn't so little. Her dark eyes had almost looked level into his when she challenged him. He had seen that she possessed not one ninja sword, but two, and she walked with a powerful stride that suggested she would be an equally deadly opponent had she only just one.

_You're in over your head, Hong Yun Sung, _he told himself. _This whole quest for the Patriot Sword is beyond your abilities. After all, even if you beat her, there will be other opponents who compete to possess the Soul Edge. _This thought, however, angered him and sealed him into action. He would meet the ninja at the bridge, and he would win the fight.

  


"Quit now, if you want to live!" Yun Sung declared as she stepped onto the bridge to find the ninja already waiting for him. She was not impressed by his show of bravado, however.

"I'm through with words. Just fight, pipsqueak," she commanded as she drew her sword from her back. Yun Sung unslung White Storm from his hip and assumed his fighting stance. 

_Don't be a fool and rush her, _he told himself. _Let her come to you. Watch her moves before you decide how to strike. _They circled around each other on the wide bridge, before she finally closed in on him and unleashed a slashing vertical strike with a forceful cry of attack. Sung blocked it and spun to avoid her second strike while delivering a blow to her midsection. She stumbled back a little, and then appeared to reassess her dismissal of the "pipsqueak." She would not make the mistake a second time. 

She attacked Yun Sung relentlessly from then on, all the while uttering short, high-pitched shrieks. It was all he could do to block half her blows and never seemed to get another one in on her. Finally, he saw an opportunity to free himself from her relentless rain of attacks. He grabbed her as she drew back from a brutal kick to his chest, throwing her to the ground forcefully as he took advantage of her off-centered balance. She leaped back to her feet as if she'd never hit the ground at all, rolling herself into a somersault that struck Yun Sung in the knees. He stumbled back, but slashed down at her head. She rolled free before he struck her, but she left a thick section of her long, black hair behind. He also managed to knock her on the underside of her chin with the flat of his blade as she leaped to her feet. The ninja growled and pummeled Yun Sung in the chest with both her blades. Blood blossomed on his uniform, the first serious wound inflicted in the duel so far. 

"It's mine!" she cried as she wrapped a strong leg around his wounded chest and knocked him to the ground. _What is? _he wondered briefly as he rolled painfully back to his feet. The world was beginning to spin dangerously. If he didn't end the fight soon, he would never find out. The ninja spun toward him again with a roundhouse kick aimed for his chest. It didn't connect, however, for he couldn't quite manage to stand up before his body collapsed onto the stone-cobbled bridge. The kick whistled through his auburn hair. Dimly, she saw two blades flash toward his face. Somehow he managed to repel them with White Storm, and continue through with the strike to hit home in the woman's gut. She gasped and stumbled back, as blood stained through her green silk tunic. 

"Nothing can stop me… from getting the Patriot Sword," he spat at her before her eyes closed and she lay still. She was still breathing. If he could stumble back to the inn in time, he might be able to get her some help.

* * *

The night was cold. Seung Mina sat in front of the fire she had built and stared into the dancing red and gold flames. In a game that had become too common since she had heard the news about Hwang's death, she tried to make out his face in the flames. She looked over at Kyung; the horse was tethered to a nearby rock, eating happily out of the feedbag Mina had given to him. She didn't speak.

Over the past few days the feeling of being followed had intensified. Had it just been a feeling, Mina would have ignored it. After all, there was nothing wrong with being alert. Being aware often saved your life, or so her father was fond of saying. But that wasn't the only thing. The trail was quiet. Way too quiet. Almost as if whoever was following her had swept the area around her clean of everything. Not even small animals could be seen on the trail. She could feel the eyes on her even now, and it disturbed her. Occasionally, while on the road, her eyes had caught a large black shape, like that of an animal. The weirdness of it all rang bells of alarm with Mina's senses and played havoc with her imagination. It was getting to the point where she didn't want to sleep, but had no choice. Staying up all night would just cause her to drop from exhaustion later.

Mina gazed skyward, looking at the clear sky and the countless stars. She choked down tears, suddenly feeling very lonely. A stray memory came to her, of the first time Hwang had dragged her home. At a makeshift camp much like this one, she had faked sleep under the stars while waiting for him to drift off to sleep so she could take off again. He never slept that night. He stayed constantly on watch and occasionally Mina could feel his eyes on her. As bizarre as it seemed, that night was special to her. Like his watching her proved he cared about her, if only enough to make sure she didn't run off. But then, less than a week later, Hwang had rebuffed her father's offer to have them married. Mina had likewise refused, not wanting to be tied someone who would always be leaving on some military mission or another. And at the time, both Hwang and her father were in the opinion that she shouldn't be allowed out into the world at large. They seemed to believe that even though she had trained since childhood with the men, she was still only just a girl.

Mina smiled. She had showed them all when she ran away the second time. Now, her father at least saw her as somewhat of an equal, though she suspected she would always be Daddy's little girl to some respect. But it tore her apart to know she had been denied the same respect from the man she loved. 

Mina's smile faded and she swore loudly, slamming her fist into the cold ground next to her. She was doing it again. She shook her head fiercely to clear it. _No grief,_ she reminded herself harshly, _no tears._ At least not while there was still something following her. 

Mina took her zanbatou, Scarlet Thunder and crawled into the bedroll. Clutching both the weapon and Hwang's vest close to her, she resigned herself to the face that she had to sleep. The sleep that came, however, was light and fitful, and she woke many times to sounds only she could hear. Each time she sprang to wakefulness she found Scarlet Thunder in her grasp, ready against the attack she half-expected to come.

Seung Mina rode into the large village when the sun was setting the next day. She was sore and trail worn, having stopped two times to rest her horse and perform a strenuous kata. As much as to keep up her form, she had practiced the kata to warn any stalkers away by showing off the fact that she could defend herself. Besides, the wild, spinning kata gave her something to focus on. It siphoned her thoughts away from her grief and funneled them toward her goals—like how she was going to kick Hong Yun Sung's ass when she found him.

But it had also made her sore—she normally didn't practice that hard, and had never felt the need to practice to scare someone off. She had always faced her battles head on, but somehow this one seemed different. Mina really didn't want to face whom or what was following her. Everything about the weird situation guaranteed it would turn out badly. So tonight she would make and exception to her longstanding policy on inns and spend the night in town. _Besides, I could also garner information of the patrons. Yun Sung would have stayed in an inn whenever possible; I doubt he even knew how to start a campfire. _Mina snickered. For some reason, the image of Yun Sung sitting freezing in the cold desert night appealed to her right now. Maybe he'd realize what searching for the Patriot Sword would entail and give it up. 

Mina was able to hold on to her mirth as she walked the streets of the small town, weaving between peddlers who called out their wares as they attempted to squeeze every last copper piece they could out of the day. She found the town's stable easily and, though the fee for the overnight care of Kyung was steep, the stable was nicer than many she had seen and she knew her stallion would be well cared for. After grabbing a bag of personal supplies off of Kyung, Mina managed to flag down on of the stable boys.

"Yes?" the young boy asked, his tone almost annoyed, as if he thought it was enough that he took care of the horses and that he shouldn't have to deal with the horses' owners as well.

"I'm looking for someone," Mina said gently, "He might have come this way recently, I want to know if you've seen him."

"I dunno," the boy said, eyeing her skeptically, "a lot of people come through here. What did he look like?"

"Well, um," Mina paused, trying to find words to describe Yun Sung that weren't too awkward. "He has red-brown hair, he is a little taller then me, and he has a sword of white metal that is so shiny you can see your reflection in it." The boy lit up instantly. 

"You mean the guy with the bear cub? That was so great! I even got to hold it in the inn he stayed at, and it waved goodbye to everyone!"

"He had a _bear cub_ with him?" Mina asked, surprised. She had always known Yun Sung had a soft spot for animals but adopting a bear cub seemed a bit much, even for him. The boy nodded.

"And that sword you described too," he said smiling, "but the bear cub was so much better than the sword." Mina found herself smiling back at the boy.

"You like animals more than people, don't you?" she observed. The boy nodded. 

"I like the horses too," he said, grinning.

"Say, could you show me the inn where you got to hold the bear cub?" she asked. The boy nodded again and led her to the cheaper looking of the two inns in the village. Seung Mina grinned. Apparently, either Yun Sung was running out of money, or he was traveling as cheap as one who preferred to sleep in a bed could. When she turned to thank the boy, she found that the child had already left to return to the stable. She shook her head, faintly amused and, still holding her weapon, walked into the inn.

The building was old but well kept, something that set it apart form most inns of reasonable price. It might have had something to do with the innkeeper, an older woman with a warm smile. She greeted Mina on entry, not even taking note of the zanbatou, as most people did.

"Hello, and welcome, child," she said, her voice cheerful. "Do you need a room for tonight? Or perhaps some food? You look like you've been riding all day. We also offer baths, and everything at a decent price."

"Actually," Mina said, approaching the counter behind which the innkeeper stood, "I'm looking for someone who passed through here recently. I've been told he had a bear cub with him," she finished, and watched as the woman's face lit up.

"Oh, I remember him! Nice young man, and the bear was the cutest thing. He left a couple days ago, after seeing to the treatment of that hurt Japanese woman." Her tone turned sour with the last two words. "Don't see why he bothered with that, she _is_ Japanese after all. But he paid for it, so I have to keep her here until she's well enough to slink on home," she sighed, obviously irked by the prospect of having to help care for the foreign woman.

"What hurt Japanese woman?" Mina asked, suddenly curious.

"Oh, just some traveler I'd wager. Maybe even a follower of the army… who knows? She spoke Korean well enough and her money was good so I let her stay in the inn for a night before that nice young man brought her back looking like she'd been in a duel and lost. In her current state she keeps rambling in her native language, so if you want to talk to her you'd better be able to speak that awful tongue."

Mina bit her lip. She did speak _some_ Japanese, but her Chinese was a lot better, almost fluent. She also knew a couple of trade languages, but she doubted the wounded woman would be able to understand those, especially a couple of the more exotic ones, like the smattering of Portuguese she knew or a couple of the other European languages she had picked up bits and pieces of on her travels. But if she wanted to know what the Japanese woman knew about Yun Sung, she'd have to talk to her.

Mina nodded slightly and was taken to a room in the back of the inn. On a futon in the middle of the room lay a woman she recognized. The ninja had been beaten badly, as if Yun Sung had no patience to go for a knockout. Mina was impressed. If he had been able to beat her like this, he was moving into his talent. _Maybe,_ Mina thought, _he really is as good as Daddy thinks he is…._

Mina quietly crossed the room to stand next to the futon, then started as the ninja's eyes shot open to encompass Mina within their wide stare. The ninja's breathing was heavy and it was obvious that, even though she was healing well enough, she was in an immense amount of pain. Mina winced—she had never been beaten this badly by anyone, although she had come close a couple of times.

"Who. . .?" the ninja asked in Japanese. Mina, putting together her sentences slowly, explained the best she could, stumbling in the foreign tongue. She hoped she got her message across, meanwhile wishing the woman was lucid enough to converse in Korean. 

From the tattered answer she received, Mina pieced together that it was indeed Yun Sung who had delivered this beating, and her respect for the young man rose. But three other words she made out froze her blood. _Soul. Edge. _And _Shards._ Soul Edge Shards. What did that mean? Tired and confused, Mina left the room and headed back out into the common room of the inn, now crowded with people enjoying dinner and drinks after a long day. Mina walked dumbly back up to the bar, leaning against it, one hand clenching Scarlet Thunder. _Did that baby have any idea of how much trouble he was in?_ she wondered.

"So," the voice of the innkeeper pulled Mina out of her thoughts, "did you find anything you were looking for?" Unable to answer, Mina just shook her head. The older woman sighed. 

"I knew you'd get nothing out of her. Some of those Japanese," the older woman shook her head with disgust, "you'd think they weren't human." Her expression turned soft as she regarded Mina. "You look tired, would you like a room for tonight?"

Mina smiled, "Yes," she answered, "And a bath and a meal too, if that's okay," she said, pulling what little coinage she had from her travel bag laying it on the bar. The woman smiled.

"Certainly. Tomorrow you'll be feeling a lot better, that you will."

Mina smiled and silently hoped so.

The bath and the meal were almost heavenly, and although Mina felt guilty for indulging in the luxury rather than continuing her pursuit of Yung Sung, she couldn't deny that the rest was just what she needed—especially being able to bathe without the feeling of being watched. She washed off all the dirt from the trail and enjoyed the feeling of clean skin for the first time in about a week. The inn keeper also had her clothing washed for her, providing her with a traditional dress while her own clothing dried. While not her usual style and simply looked ludicrous paired with Scarlet Thunder, the clean fabric felt good against her clean skin. 

Her bath and meal finished, Mina allowed herself to be shown to her room. It must have been one of the nicer ones in the inn, complete with a large futon and plenty of blankets and offering a good view of the river. Discarding the dress, she happily slipped between the sheets. For the first time in nights she didn't feel a need to curl up to her zanbatou and slept comfortably nude, cuddling Hwang's vest as she had done every night since she had heard the news of his death.

"Hwang," she whispered, snuggling deeper into the futon and blankets. "Hwang Sung Kyung. . ." she giggled, saying his full name before sleep took her, comfortable and worry-free.

* * *

Assassin stared into the darkness, watching the village lights slowly wink out by one by one. He dared not enter the area of human habitation, but knowing that the girl evaded him by hiding there was almost infuriating enough to invite him in. He stared angrily until but a single light twinkled in the dark and silent village. It was probably the village inn. The girl was most likely there, sleeping in a bed that had to be more comfortable than the cold desert ground. He almost remembered a time when he, too, felt the comfort of a futon mattress under his back. He placed his hand over the shard in his chest, desperately trying to remember.

_Yes, it was an inn like that one, _he thought as the shard pulsed under his fingertips. Dim memories flashed to life. He remembered stalking the girl at another time, in another place. Was it even a different life? It seemed so distant, foreign. He'd followed the girl across icy tundra and caught up with her in a village like this one. Only all the buildings had had steep, pointy roofs with eaves that touched the ground and the people wore fur from head to toe. Inside one of the pointy-roofed buildings, he had slept in a futon that was much too high off the ground. And… there was another thing wrong, too. The innkeeper had spoken in a strange tongue that Assassin had not recognized. She thought that he and the girl were husband and wife, and did not comprehend his protests when she booked him and the girl into a single room with only one bed. He'd been so flustered… he must have forgotten that the girl was his enemy. He remembered lying on the stiff floor at first, staring up at her as she slept on the towering bed. Her arm had dangled tantalizingly close to his face as her chest rose and fell in soft breaths. Then her voice was in his ear, muttering something about how he didn't have to sleep on the floor. "Practically promised," she said. What had that meant? Then there was the softness of the mattress beneath him, and the even softer sensation of her arm touching his under the quilt. 

The memory faded away, though Assassin wished desperately that it would go on. "Practically promised." _That's right… at that time, she hadn't been my enemy. She had been promised to me in marriage, hadn't she? Until…. _Until her love had turned to that auburn-haired boy. Kyung, or whatever his name was. The sudden realization stung Assassin into rage.

_That girl was mine! And she betrayed me! _The light of the village inn blinked once, taunting him before fading into darkness. He had half a mind to go to the inn under the cover of the night and kill the traitorous bitch. However, the other half of his mind still lingered on the memory of her skin touching his. She was too lovely, too pure for him to mar her warm beauty with his blade. Even to brush her smooth skin with a mere fingertip would taint her…. _No, don't let yourself think of her like that. She betrayed you! She is your enemy! _Assassin thought fiercely. He pressed his fingers to the shard at the back of his neck until the unwanted visions went away. Then, resolving to get some sleep so that he could pursue her tomorrow, he wrapped himself in his dark cloak and drifted to sleep.

Assassin woke with a start in the middle of the night, feeling disoriented. His clothing had been stripped from him, including his veil and headdress, and a blanket was placed over him in their stead. His hand jumped from his bare chest to the ground beneath him and, to his alarm, found that he was lying on a firm futon. He sat up quickly in the dark room, his heart pounding with fear and confusion. _Where am I? Where is my sword? _A warmth pressed against him, preventing him from standing.

"You didn't have to sleep outside, you know. We're practically promised," the warm shape mumbled in a soft, feminine voice. She shifted again to rest her head against his chest, spilling her long hair all across his body.

"Mina," he whispered, remembering her name as he breathed in the faint perfume of her hair. She smiled and snuggled closer, sending waves of sensation coursing through his body. "Mina…" he repeated, testing the name on his lips as he softly traced the curve of her cheek. Her eyes opened in surprise. She whispered something, his name perhaps, but was too entranced by those dark, pretty eyes to hear what. Before he was really aware of what he was doing Assassin found himself touching her cheek with his lips in the softest of kisses. Mina muttered something in his ear—encouragement? Protest? He suddenly didn't care; he wasn't going to stop there. He trailed his lips to kiss the edge of her jaw, then the soft skin of her neck. She gasped softly, prompting him to kiss the spot a little harder, even knick it with his teeth in a playful bite. He moved on to the hollow of her throat, shifting the blanket out of way so that his hands could explore the rest of her while he tasted her warm skin. His fingers trailed blindly along the curve of her breasts and down to make circles around her bellybutton. She seemed to be as naked as he was, he noted with satisfaction.

A dim part of Assassin's memory told him that she should be hitting him, screaming, something. But, instead, she gently twined her fingers through his hair and pulled his face near hers. 

"Practically promised," she reminded him before covering his mouth with hers in a kiss that took his breath away. She shifted on the futon to pin him down, as if he would try to get away.

"Yes, you are mine," he whispered. He moved his hands across her smooth back, thinking, _Mine, all this is mine. _

_Fool, _Assassin cursed himself when he awoke within the tangle of his own cloak. The desert ground was just as hard and cold as it had ever been and no womanly warmth pressed against him. His heart was racing and his mouth felt dry. _But she was mine, and I will make her mine again. I will punish both her and her lover for what she has done to me._

He stared out at the village. The sky was slowly lightening with the dawn, and lights began to appear in some of the buildings. The girl… Mina would no doubt be leaving within the hour. He would shadow her as usual, and when evening fell again he would claim her.

* * *

_ The dress was heavy, not a sensation Seung Mina particularly enjoyed. Her only consolation was the color: a brilliant scarlet, her favorite shade of red. The headdress was heavy as well, and the entire garment had taken hours to arrange correctly. She cast a sideways glance at Hwang. He looked so different in the formal blue clothing he wore, elaborately embroidered and completed with a headdress. Mina almost didn't recognize him. Hwang caught her glance and Mina felt herself do something very rare—she blushed and quickly glanced away. Hwang also did something he rarely did—he laughed. The sound made Mina angry and she spun to slap him, an impossible task in the heavy clothing. Hwang caught her wrist easily and held on to the hand, his eyes were glowing._

_ "Nervous?" he asked, easily and calmly._

_ "Never," Mina said, hoping Hwang couldn't tell she was shaking._

_ "Liar," Hwang laughed and Mina glared at him, only to have her hard gaze softened by Hwang's expression._

_ "Oh really?" Mina asked playfully. "How can you tell?"_

_ "Mina, when you lie, you're totally serious about it," he said, then upped the pitch of his voice, to mimic hers. "No Daddy, I won't run off. I'll stay right here, Hwang, you can trust me." He laughed again. "So as you can see, it's obvious when you're lying." Another soft smile and Hwang's hand caressed hers, adding to her nervousness in a strange and pleasant way. "There's nothing to be nervous about," he assured her. His voice was damnably calm but, then again, Hwang himself was always damnably calm. "It's just your father out there, with the students of the dojo standing in for my family. It's okay."_

_ Mina smiled and nodded. No mater how badly her nerves were strained, she would get through it. The entire ceremony wouldn't take long anyway, and then it would be just the two of them. _Just the two of us_, Mina thought, suddenly feeling light-headed as they entered the ceremony room. _Just the two of us_. The thought should've calmed her, but for some reason she felt more afraid then ever._

_ Sometime during the formal event, Hwang's hand found his way to hers once more as he leaned close to whisper something into her ear. It took a moment for Mina to comprehend the words. "I love you, Mina." Then the scene around her twisted and changed._

_ "I love you Mina." This time the words were different, passionate. She and Hwang were together in a room so dark that the only thing Mina could see was him. Hwang's hands roved over her body, slowly, lovingly, up her arms, around her shoulders and down to cup her breasts, kneading the sensitive flesh was his warm hands. She gasped as Hwang brought his mouth to her neck, kissing and nipping at the flesh there, her own hands exploring his body in turn. She almost couldn't believe that this was happening, that Hwang was touching her like this. She heard herself gasp his name and felt, more than heard, him chuckle._

_ "You can," he said, accenting his words with kisses that kept going lower, "use my given name now, Mina."_

_ His words encouraging her, his lips and his hands spurring her on she called out to him again, "Kyung…! "_

_ "Yes, that's it." The words were low, almost growling as he lowered her to the futon beneath him. "That's it, my Mina…." Seung Mina gave in to his hands, gave into the warmth of his body and the sensation it offered her until a voice intruded on their privacy._

_ "Little Seung, Hwang is dead."_

No he's not_, she thought. _That's absurd, he's right here and so warm and so alive….

_ "Hwang is dead." Memory came crashing down on her once more, and Hwang was gone, replaced by a sea of black that stared at her with unblinking eyes. Suddenly devoid of warmth, Mina stood staring into the darkness, looking for someone, anyone, to be there so she wouldn't have to be alone. She spun around and spotted him in the distance. Hwang, not alive and warm as he had been moments before, but with wounds covering his body and his eyes cold and hard._

_ "Hwang!" Mina screamed as she stumbled toward him, her arms reaching out for him. She grasped his arms with her hands, finding cold flesh between her fingers. "Kyung," she sobbed, using his given name, trying to coax acknowledgment out of the cold face._

_ Suddenly his body was wrapped in black and he stared at her with the eyes of an animal. He broke her hold easily and grabbed her by the shoulders, shoving her back with a blow that robbed her of breath. _

_ "Hwang is dead, Mina," he said coldly and sarcastically, his masked hovering close to hers before claiming her lips in a selfish and brutal kiss._

_ Hwang is dead._

Mina bolted upright on the futon before flopping back down on the mattress. The sun was rising, softly lighting the room through the window. She covered her face with her hands as tears welled up once again, chiding herself for waking up late and losing herself in a dream. She brushed at her teary eyes with her arm as she rose from her bed, feeling cheated by the nightmare. Even her dreams wouldn't let the love her life be alive. In the nightmare, although Hwang had had the voice of the man she loved, his eyes were those of a madman. Like an animal. Mina shuddered—there was another mental image she wanted to forget. The bodies of the bandits slaughtered as if by an animal, and the large black bird….

"Stop it, you!" Mina ordered herself, the sound of her own voice breaking the spell the nightmare had woven over her. She forced herself to begin dressing, putting on the clothing that the innkeeper had returned to her sometime during the night. Her muscles were waking slowly, her mind still lethargic as she braided her hair and finished dressing. She stretched her arms and legs before grabbing Scarlet Thunder and her bag, and then left the room. Since she had already paid for the room, she simply left the inn and headed toward the stable for her stallion, knowing that she'd have to make up lost ground. Yun Sung was still at least several days ahead of her.

Mina reached the stable and paid the boy who worked there. The fee seemed to have been reduced; the child must have thought of her as a friend of 'the bear man,' she realized with a smile. Wherever he went, it seemed Yun Sung touched the lives of the people there. He really was pure, almost sickingly so. Almost like Hwang had been sickingly calm and serious. Mina swore under her breath as she mounted Kyung and rode spurred the stallion forward, riding out of the town on a cloud of brown dust in her wake. She had to stop thinking about Hwang if she was going to get through this. The sun was rising quickly, and already she should feel the eyes of her stalker upon her.

It was obvious by midday that Mina had not lost her pursuer. A part of her hoped that spending a night in the town would have thrown off her stalker, but her wish hadn't been granted. _Just like so many of my other wishes and hopes,_ she thought, before shaking her head once again to clear it. 

Mina stopped at a small oasis, an ideal place to water Kyung, clear her mind and rest her body from the taxing journey beneath the hot sun. She dismounted easily, sliding off of the big stallion, who sauntered happily in the direction of a floodwater pond. Mina felt no need to tether the horse—she had learned quickly that Kyung was trained to come on command and would never stray very far from her. Besides, as with the days before, the trail was unnaturally quiet. She scanned the land around her, feeling the eyes of her pursuer even though the landscape didn't allow many places for it to hide.

"Come out here!" Mina shouted, knowing that whatever was following her was in hearing range. "I know you can hear me! Come out and face me! Why are you following me, damnit?!" she swore, half expecting someone to materialize out of nowhere. But no one did. Mina released a breath she hadn't even been aware she was holding, along with a litany of curses that would've given her father or Hwang a heart attack to hear from her mouth. It really was amazing what one learned when one traveled.

"Well, fuck you then!" Mina screamed at the open dessert, "You're not going to get me," she said, adding a few more choice words underneath her breath before plopping down on the sad next to the pool of water. The temptation to bathe was overwhelming, but Mina couldn't make herself take off so much as her boots if she knew someone was watching. She didn't feel like eating much either, so she just sat, watching Kyung the horse drink the water and eat his fill. Staring at her own reflection in the pond, she realized that she looked tired and trail worn already, even though it was only noon. She looked closer to a child right now than a woman of just around twenty years of age. She looked away from her reflection as tears rose to her eyes. Mina wanted desperately to pound on something, but the heat of the day made practicing out of the question unless she wanted to kill herself with a heat stroke. As it was, just sitting in the shade of the sparse vegetation was still extremely hot. 

Mina took a cue from Kyung and tried to rest, Scarlet Thunder cradled in her arms. Her thoughts drifted back to the dream of the previous night.

"Practically promised. . ." she whispered under her breath, a half smile lighting her face. The simple phrase brought to live a plethora of memories. _Hwang flustered, sleeping on a floor in a foreign inn before she could coax him on to the strange bed. Waking up still fully clothed, but snuggled securely in the crook of his arm. _And even earlier still, _Hwang comforting her when her brother and mother had died suddenly. Hwang's startled expression when her father had first expressed interest in the match soon after, when Mina was still 15 and he 24._ Practically promised….

"Damn you, Hwang Sung Kyung," Mina swore. Practically promised, indeed. Hwang had put an end to that girlish phrase easily enough. The dream was first shattered when her father had formally approached Hwang about their marriage match. Mina had listened anxiously behind the closed door of the room in which her father and Hwang met, expecting to finally hear a firm date set for her marriage to Hwang. She heard Hwang turn her father down, coldly, without feeling, and she spent the rest of the day crying in her room. Later, when her father had approached her about it, Mina only laughed and said that she didn't want to be married to an unfeeling bastard like Hwang anyway. But she hadn't meant it, and her father knew that as well as she did.

Mina had managed to corner Hwang later that night and demand an explanation. She had demanded to know what had made him answer her father the way he had. Hwang just stared at her, as calm as he always was. Everything he told her was engraved on Mina's memory forever. First he had announced simply that he couldn't concern himself with something as mundane as marriage when there was a threat as great as the Japanese warring against Korea. The welfare of the nation came before the two of them, he said, and she would have to get over it. Mina then accused him of having someone else and demanded a name, silently vowing to beat the shit out of the woman who had stolen _her_ Hwang. Again, damnably calm, Hwang rebuffed her, saying although he had been with other women before there wasn't anyone now. _If you don't love me that way,_ Mina had screamed, _why couldn't you have just said something, you ass!_ She had shouted at him, before turning and running away, not giving him a chance to respond. He didn't follow her, but she felt that he had reached out to her as she stormed out of the room. 

The next day, the marriage proposals had started rolling in. All were from families with sons she had never liked and had never even looked twice at. Most of them she knew, of course—they were students at the dojo whose parents hoped that their son would be the one to inherit the prestigious school someday. Mina had refused them all. Hwang just sat back and watched, giving no indication that he cared if Mina chose a husband, or who. 

Mina had then run away from the dojo for the second time in her life, only to be drug back by Hwang once again. The experience was miserable—she couldn't bear to be in the company of someone whom she loved but didn't love her in return. In the few weeks before he left with the army the second time however, things changed again. She and Hwang grew closer than they had ever been before. Then he left, without either of them having acknowledged the blossoming love between then. And now it was over, permanently.

"Practically promised," Mina said, her tone bitter. "Yeah, right. You never wanted me, anyway."

Mina rode on as far into the cold desert night as she could, until she became so fatigued that she nearly fell asleep on her horse. She then reluctantly set up camp in an area that was more vegetated than even the oasis she'd found earlier that day. She was nearing the end of the desert, she realized, and a few more days of travel would bring her into plains and grasslands. Mina smiled and clutched Scarlet Thunder. Plains and grasslands meant more towns and villages and cities. Even though she normally avoided inns while traveling to both save money and stave off horny city men, the large settlements of people would offer ample chances to lose the person following her as well as offer sources of information about the path Yun Sung traveled in his search for the Patriot Sword. Cities would also mean inns to sleep in at night. She didn't think she could sleep outside while her pursuer watched her. Mina cursed herself quietly. _I'm becoming as bad as Yun Sung,_ _thinking I need an inn to go to sleep. If I don't sleep, I can't travel, if I can't travel I can't bring White Storm and the baby back to Daddy. _

Mina clutched Hwang's vest and her zanbatou as she borrowed beneath her blankets. As she drifted into a fitful sleep, she imagined that she saw a shape form out of the darkness and stand over her….

* * *

When the rivers crisscrossing the land became so abundant that there was more oasis than desert, Hong Yun Sung knew he was in China. The thought excited him. _China! Father went to China once, and now I'm as well-traveled as he was, _he marveled, but could not help but feel a little sad. He wondered if his father would have continued his travels had he not died when Sung was still a boy. He patted his pouch of coins as he thought, suddenly remembering that he had only a few Chinese yuan among his life savings. They were, in fact, coins that his father had given to him after returning from his trip to China. _I can't spend those, _he groaned inwardly.

But when Yun Sung found an inn at the next village, the innkeeper hardly gave his Korean wong a second glance. _Maybe he didn't notice, _he thought with a smug smile. The innkeeper noticed Sung's tight grin, however, and returned it with a wide smile that displayed sharp gaps among his teeth.

"Welcome to Bordertown," he said. At least, that's what Yun Sung thought the innkeeper said. Korean was the only language spoken in both his home village and the Seung dojo. While he had learned Chinese, it had been years since he had actually practiced the language.

"Uh, thank you," he replied as the innkeeper swept a handful of coins from the pile Sung had shook out onto the counter. He felt the man might be ripping him off, but he had no way to prove it.

"The stable fee is included, but keeping pets in your room is an extra charge," the innkeeper replied to Yun Sung's quiet mutterings. "And there'll be charges for any damage he does to the furniture," he added.

"What furniture?" Yun Sung grumbled as he opened the door to his room. Aside from the bed, there was only a washstand with a cracked pitcher of water and a dingy-looking towel. The window offered a nice view, though, he remarked, as he crossed the room to gaze out at the street three stories below. Paper lanterns were strung across the wide thoroughfare, and lights from the other inns, taverns and restaurants shone like lightning bugs in a summer night. _Well, it is summer. Almost. _Wiping his hands on the towel—which turned out to be crisply clean, despite its mottled color—he decided to venture out onto the street and find someplace else to rip him off for a meal. 

Bear shot him a piteous glance that prevented Yun Sung from leaving him in the room.

"Alright. Let's go find something to eat," he said to the cub. "All I really want is some kim-chee and rice," he stated, although his rumbling stomach had far grander ideas. Bear trotted behind him, his claws finding easy purchase on the worn floor as Yun Sung climbed down three flights of stairs and emerged from the building onto the street.

It certainly didn't sound like night. Groups of people moved up and down the thoroughfare, talking, laughing, drinking and occasionally buying hot buns or other midnight snacks from street vendors. _I'll need to find a money-changer in the morning_, Sung reminded himself. _I doubt the street vendors take Korean wong, even if this is a border town. _He bypassed the trays of steaming food at makeshift stands or balanced on bicycles, weaving his way through the throngs of people to the first restaurant establishment whose aroma caught his nose. He squinted at the characters on the restaurant's sign. They seemed to manage to avoid the light of any lantern by a scant few centimeters. The glow in the window was welcoming enough, however, that he decided it didn't matter what the place was called.

Upon entering the establishment, Yun Sung found every eye in the room focused on him over cups of sake or hands of cards. He froze in the doorway, staring back at the crowd of ill-shaven, oddly garbed men. Until a serving girl sauntered up to him, her clothes just as colorful and mismatched as the men's, and placed a hand on his arm.

"Don't pay them any mind. The regulars in this place are a safe crowd. But you, boy, why aren't you out enjoying the festival?" she asked. Her outspoken manner reminded Yun Sung of Mina. 

"Uh, festival?"

"Yeah. Even in Bordertown, there isn't usually a drunken orgy in the streets unless there's a festival. I think tonight is the Festival of Stars. Or some shit like that. Anyway, foreigner, can I get you something?" 

On second thought, the girl wasn't like Seung Mina at all. She was much too forward, and the way she said "something" as she squeezed his arm was more than a little suggestive. Against his best judgment, he found himself replying, "Some food for myself and Bear. This is a restaurant, isn't it?" The serving girl laughed softly, and he heard some guffaws from the tables as well.

"You, uh, don't travel much, do you?" she asked mirthfully. "Alright, sit down, we'll get you and your pet something to eat." She led him to an empty table, then retreated to the kitchen before Yun Sung could order his kim-chee and rice. He sat stiffly on the low bench, nervously surveying the room. Everyone seemed to have returned to their drinks and cards, but he felt that they watched him just the same. He shifted uncomfortably, then turned his attention to Bear.

"Maybe they don't like bears, here," he said softly, stroking Bear's fluffy white mane. The cub yawned indifferently. The girl eventually returned with two plates of food, and Yun Sung was glad to shift his attention to the meal. There was half a chicken for Bear, and the other half seemed to be diced up in a spicy sauce with mixed vegetables. Yun Sung ate hungrily, deciding that he'd worry about the price later. He ate until he was stuffed, then pushed his plate back with a little discomfort. He hadn't been this full in a long time. It felt good, in a way, but it also made him feel incredibly sleepy. He stood up woozily.

"I'd better get back to my… room. How… much do I owe you?" he asked the serving girl when she returned for the empty plates. His mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and his eyes couldn't even focus on the girl.

"Give me your sword," she said, pushing him down with an easy shove. "You owe us some answers." Yun Sung protested, but found his limbs would not obey him. His arm flopped limply on the floor as he tried to grab White Storm. The girl snatched it from his belt with a laugh. 

"Well, he's Korean, like our wanted man, and fights with a very similar weapon. There aren't many swords fashioned in this style, or men who fight with this type of blade," she said, addressing a group of men who had gathered behind her. 

"He's just a pup," Yun Sung heard one man grunt. "He can't be our man." _How can this be happening? _Yun Sung thought angrily. _I've saved a village and defeated a ninja. I can't die now in the hands of these bandits! _Another man grabbed Yun Sung by the front of his dojo uniform and gave him a couple of violent shakes. 

"You obviously traveled through the mountains to get here, passing through at about the same time that my band of men there was slaughtered! From the mangled remains which the killer made no attempt to hide, we know that it was a single man who committed the deed with a peculiar style sword," the man spoke accusingly. To Yun Sung's blurred vision, the man was a wooden mask amid a swirl of bright, magenta robes. The sight was akin to something he had once seen in a nightmare.

"I didn't kill… anyone," he replied with difficulty. The girl had to have drugged his food. 

"There was a girl, too," spoke another man. "Too close behind you to be a random passerby through the mountains. Give us the name of your accomplice, and we'll make your death a swift one." Yun Sung thought his heart stopped. _A girl. No… not…Mina?_

"I… di'n kill anyone!" he repeated, and he knew his words slurred together. "I'm trav'lin by myshelf. I'm jus' lookin' for th' Patriot Sword. Have you guyz heardofit?"

"Ling!" the masked man cried. "Did you have to give him so much poppy syrup?!" 

"I didn't think you honestly thought he's the one we're looking for. I was hoping I could have my way with him after you stole pretty boy's sword and roughed him up a little, chief," she replied. The chief sighed through his mask and let go of Yun Sung's clothing after one last vigorous shake. Bear growled, but the poor animal seemed to have been drugged as well. 

"Where'd you get this sword, boy? And why do you stink of the Soul Edge?" he demanded.

"I jus'… travlin'. Giv'n t' me. Mina. Mina gave…."

"Dammit, Ling," the bandit chief swore. "Alright. Get him out of my sight until he's coherent again." He kicked Yun Sung disdainfully, then slid White Storm into his own belt. Yun Sung was dimly aware of a slender pair of arms grabbing his legs and a stronger, rougher pair grabbing him around the midsection. He cried out, but the poppy syrup in the sauce had knocked him so senseless that he was unable to put up much of a struggle.

"You guys suck," he complained weakly. His head was much higher than his feet, and he felt like he was jouncing backwards up a flight of stairs. 

"Yeah, what of it?" Ling sniggered. "Wang here wishes I'd suck his, but I wouldn't for all the yuan between the whole clan."

"Shaddap," growled the man who gripped his shoulders, a command that seemed aimed at both Ling and Yun Sung. He felt his body heaved onto a stiff futon and heard a door slam firmly behind him.

_Am I alone? _Yun Sung wondered. The room was dark. Either that or his vision was completely failing him. He felt ill.

"I'm sorry I drugged you so much," came a soft voice. "Now, I don't want you getting any ideas when you come to. I'd probably suck Wang before I'd ever want to 'have my way' with you. I need you to get me out of here, boy," Ling whispered.

"Me… help you?" Yung Sung managed. He realized the room was only dark because his eyes were closed, and he could not seem to summon the strength to open them.

"Shh, sleep now. I'll wake you when it's time."

Hong Yun Sung dreamed of Seung Mina. But she spoke with Ling's voice, whispering softly about a life he couldn't imagine Mina experiencing. 

"My father died when I was eleven years old. In order to support my three brothers, my mother sold me into slavery. After my virginity was bought, no one wanted me anyone. I was turned out on the street from my master's home, left to prostitute myself or starve. Yoshimitsu's clan found me when I was fifteen and saved me from the street. I was still a prostitute, but the clan screened my customers and kept me safe from harm. They even let me keep most of the money. But, you see, this isn't the life I want to lead. I've been looking for a chance to leave for a long time, and finally that opportunity has arrived. In exchange for saving your life, I want you to take me with you. To… wherever you're going. Just get me out of here." 

_Mina. Mina, no. _The sadness in her eyes lifted, and she laughed softly.

"You keep saying that name. Is she your betrothed?"

_Mina. You're my… friend, my classmate, the woman of my dreams. But you're my master's daughter, and your heart belongs to a cruel man who refuses your love as he refuses to acknowledge me as his rival._ _That will all change when I bring back the Patriot Sword. I know you'll love me when I save our country and defeat Hwang._

"I understand, I think. And I think I've heard of this Patriot Sword. It's also called the Soul Edge, isn't it? Yoshimitsu is trying to find it so he can destroy it. So was a young man named Kilik, who passed through here a couple weeks ago. I thought about using him for my escape plan, but he was a real weird one. Kind of… dangerous. But I was glad to help him 'atone for his sins.' Men say the strangest things when they make love, you know? Sometimes I feel like I get paid more to listen to their problems than to fuck them."

_Mina, I don't want you to disgrace yourself like that. I'll get you out of here. We'll go… get the Patriot Sword together. _Seung Mina's face blurred. Her long, brown hair darkened into two black coils woven intricately about her head. Her eyes became more slanted, her lips smaller and rounder—like a red rosebud. _ Pretty. But not as pretty as Mina._ The girl laughed.

"Alright, I'll let you sleep. I don't know why I just told you all of that," Ling said with a sigh. Yun Sung drifted into a deeper sleep, where even dreams did not venture.

Yun Sung awoke to a dim blue light filtering in through the room's narrow window and Ling's urgent but softly spoken words.

"Get up, it's time to go."

"Where's my sword? And Bear?" he demanded in a whisper, scrambling to his feet. He almost stepped on the bear cub in doing so. 

"As you can see, your friend is just fine. But, uh, getting your sword back will be a different matter. I think Yoshimitsu still has it stuck through his belt. He's asleep, but he won't be for long if you take it and you won't get away alive if you try. I can get you another sword from the storeroom. Granted, it won't be as good as your shiny white blade, but…."

"No, I have to get White Storm back. Show me where it is," he argued. Ling sighed in exasperation. 

"I didn't save you from bloody death so that you could kill yourself in a brawl with the boss. But I see you're as stubborn as any man. Fine, I'll show you," she hissed.

"I'm not going to get myself killed," Yun Sung growled. "I've beaten a ninja and…."

"You killed our band of men that was waylaying travelers in the mountains, didn't you?" she whispered, pausing mid-stride to face him. "I didn't think there was any way, but…."

"I never killed anyone! Well, I… but I didn't kill any bandits! Just some Japanese invaders. Just take me to my sword!" His voice was on the edge of cracking from a hoarse whisper into a shout. He remembered Mina being as exasperating as this sometimes. Were all women like this? 

Ling spun around again with a sigh and led him down the stairway back to the common room. No one sat around the low tables now. Bear sniffed under some of them for scraps until Yun Sung caught his attention with a quiet hiss. The cub lifted his head and trotted after his master as Yun Sung crept into a nearly invisible hallway. A pair of screened doors stood at the end, barely discernable in the dim light. 

"No, wait. It's in there, right?" He whispered to Ling. She nodded. "Good. You go to the stables at the Wayfarer Inn and get my horse. You know where that is, right? She's a dun mare and she answers to 'Kiri.' Oh, and grab my stuff from my room. It's on the end of hallway on the fourth floor." He dug in his money pouch and procured his room key. Ling snatched it from his hand.

"Good idea. I'll be waiting for you out back," she whispered, then took off without a second glance back. For a fleeting moment, Yun Sung wondered if she would simply take off with his stuff and his horse. _No, Kiri wouldn't leave me in this godforsaken border town. Besides, I think I trust Ling. _It was only after this thought that he realized he was holding a small dagger in his hand. Ling must have pressed it there when she took the key. _Yes, I trust her. But what does she want me to do with this? It's too small to seriously injure a man, and I doubt she'd want me to kill Yoshimitsu anyway. _He slipped the tiny weapon into the folds of his empty belt and crept toward the end of the hallway. 

Yun Sung reached slowly for the paper screen door, only to find that it resisted movement. _Locked, somehow? _His other hand reached for the dagger in his belt as he pressed an ear against the door. Although the thick paper admitted light, he could see nothing of the room beyond. The door did nothing to dampen sound, however, and he hardly needed to press his ear against the door to hear the snoring emanating from the room. It was a disturbing, whistling sound—almost mechanical. _Wha… does he sleep with his mask on? _He ran his fingers along the short hilt of the dagger. It might be just the thing to pick the lock. Or cut through the special paper. Inserting it into the lock, he found that the blade was a bit too wide to go in all the way. He removed the blade and slid it into the corner of one of the panels in the door. The wooden partitions would prevent him from slicing a very large opening, but all he needed was a space big enough to reach his arm through. 

Yun Sung winced at the sound the blade made as it sawed through the paper, although it was still quieter than Yoshimitsu's snoring. He sliced open one of the panels as carefully as he could, finding that the blade sliced more cleanly and produced less noise when he used swifter strokes. Then, returning the dagger to his belt, he reached his arm through the opening he had made and fumbled at the other side of the lock. With a sharp click, the mechanism came undone. _I can't believe I'm sneaking around and breaking into things like a common thief. _Yanking his arm back, he slid the door open and passed into the room beyond.

White Storm shone brightly in the dim room, sitting on low table near the futon on which the bandit chief slept. It shook lightly as the table vibrated with the grating snores that emanated from the masked man. _How can he sleep through that raucous noise he makes? _Yun Sung crept closer, his footsteps muffled by the plush rugs layered over the floor. Even in the dim light, he could see that they were brightly colored. In true light, they were probably bright hues of magenta, yellow, and green.

"It is I, Yoshimitsu!" crackled a voice from the mask. Yun Sung nearly jumped out of his skin, but the bandit merely rolled over and flung an arm toward the table. It landed next to White Storm, fingers brushing the hilt. Yun Sung stared in confusion until he realized that the chief must wear a mask on both sides of his face. So which way was he facing, now? _It doesn't matter. Just get the sword, _he prompted himself.

However, the man's fingers gripped White Storm more tightly than Yun Sung had thought. When he tried to lift the sword from the table, he brought the arm with it. Yun Sung stared in horror at fingers that looked like they had been fashioned out of wood. They gripped the hilt like a vice while wooden gears spun slowly along the length of the arm. _Just what is this guy? Some kind of machine? _Suddenly the mechanical arm jerked as its master lurched to life.

"Namu namu namu namu namu!" Yoshimitsu cried, causing Yun Sung to drop the sword with a startled shout. The bandit lord snatched it close as he bolted upright on his futon.

"What the hell are you doing here? Pretty boy looking for a quick end to his short life?" he demanded. Yun Sung swallowed.

"Give me my sword back," he said, trying to force confidence behind his words.

"Where'd you get this sword, boy? Did you thieve it from your master as you try to steal it from me? Ling and Wang were right—you cannot be the swordsman who killed my band of men in the mountains. I would have set you on your way, but now I see I will have to assist you in your suicide."

"You're right—I didn't kill your men. But I will kill you if you do not hand over White Storm," Yun Sung growled. _Hell, or Mina will kill me when she catches up to me! I can't believe she ran off after me!_

"Kill me with what, boy? Scratch me to death with your fingernails?" the bandit lord retorted, then bowed his head to turn his attention to the weapon. "Such a pretty sword," he crooned to the shining white blade in his arms. Yun Sung clenched his fingers around his hidden dagger. _He's pretending to ignore me, waiting for me to make the first move. But I can't. Not with just this tiny dagger when has White Storm. _

Yun Sung didn't know how long he stood in the dim room, white-knuckling the dagger and standing ready for a fight. A million thoughts raced through his mind. _Is Ling back already? Did she find Kiri? Maybe I should just get out of here. No, I need the sword. Is Mina here in Bordertown? Does she know I'm here? How close behind me is she?_ It could have been hours, or minutes, but suddenly the bandit lord erupted into noise. Yun Sung startled and reflexively whipped his arms into a position to block the incoming blow.

"It's not true! I tell you, it isn't true!" Yoshimitsu wailed, bowing his head and banging his wooden fist on the table. Yun Sung slowly lowered his arms. _What the hell is going on?_ he wondered. Streams of water poured from the eye slits in the man's mask, making dark spots of moisture on his magenta robes. _He's crying!_


	5. Chapter Four

Series: Soul Calibur

Rating: R

Authors: Sephira jo (sephirajo@yahoo.com) and Cap'n Dampeal (capndampeal@lycos.com)

Story: White Reflections 

Part 5/?? (the prologue counts as a part)

Archive: With Permission only

Disclaimer: We don't own this game! Namco does! If we owned it, the characters would be seriously fucked. 'Cause we like to mess with characters minds. Oh yeah. ^-^

Authors' notes: There's some serious angst in this chapter. But we both hope you enjoy it! Remember, it will all work out in the end. Also, please take the R rating seriously, like you would for a film of the same rating. We mean it, this fic may contain material that will offend some of you, you have been advised.

**

Chapter Four

**

The girl had curled herself into a tight ball, sheltering herself between two large rocks that hid her from view as she slept. Assassin didn't have to see her to know she was there, however. He felt her presence as if she were a part of him. _Mina belongs to me, after all, _he reminded himself, _and tonight I will re-forge my claim while punishing her for her betrayal. _He had fantasized about how he would take her as he had pursued her through the scorching desert from sunrise to sunset. He had pushed his body beyond capacity—such was the power that the soul shards lent him—and now Mina would pay dearly for the pain he had endured. _I know now that I can enjoy neither rest nor peace until I have settled the score between us and ended her miserable existence. Then I will end my own life. End my own life. _He repeated the thought, testing himself for weakness.

A horse whickered softly in the distance, causing Assassin to halt in his silent advance toward the sleeping girl. He could not allow the animal to give away his presence, but to kill it would certainly cause a lot of unnecessary noise. _Shards, lend me stealth and strength, _he prayed as he approached the creature head on. He knew that horses had two blind spots—one directly in front of them and one directly behind. As long as he caused no sudden movements to startle the creature, it would not even be able to see him coming. His dark cloak did not even stir as he closed the few meters that remained between him and the horse, disguising him a merely a dark ripple in the desert night. 

As soon as he was within arm's reach of that massive head, the stallion sank to the ground with a soft thud. It crumpled to its knees first before keeling over on its side. Assassin stepped over it while silently congratulating himself. Nothing stood between him and his prize, now. Mina twitched, her fingers clenching and relaxing around the bladed weapon snuggled next to her sleeping form. Assassin grabbed it, twisting it away from her as he crouched down to straddle her. He watched her eyes snap open in surprise, then widen even more in terror. She lunged for her zanbotou while Assassin twirled it casually out of her reach. She gasped, bucking under him as she tried to escape. Assassin hurled the zanbotou into the distance and roughly shoved her shoulders to the ground.

"You little bitch," he snarled. "Look at me. Look what I've become!" He slapped her when she peered at his veiled face. "I should kill you for what you've done to me, but first I will take what was rightfully mine."

* * *

At first, Mina thought it was another nightmare. Another dark and horrible dream featuring the madman with Hwang's voice. But the pain in her cheek where his hand had landed, the feeling of being half-on and half-off the bed roll and the very real scent of blood, dirt, metal and sweat stung her nose. After that reality sank in, another quickly followed it. This was the person who had been following her. But what did he mean by 'rightfully mine'?

"Wha-" Mina started, her voice forced and choked around adrenaline and fear, only to be cut by yelp of pain, as one of her attacker's strong hands curled in her unbound hair and pulled - hard. The sting jerked tears out of her eyes, obscuring her vision, clouding the two eyes that stared back at her, their hue a very familiar shade of chestnut.

"What's wrong, Mina?" He started, his voice bitter as his free hand pulled at her clothing, rending it open at the bosom. The sound of his voice with the tearing fabric making her flinch, "_Practically promised_, remember? Or did you forget about that, _Mina_? As quickly as you forgot about me? Leaving me to rut with that auburn haired pup?" He spat out, each question more angry than the last, each question accented by a pull of her hair, a tearing of her clothing.

_Practically promised,_ Mina thought desperately, her mind reeling, _only Hwang knows that._ _Only Hwang._ Moving her own hand as quickly as she could, she made a wild grab for the fabric covering his face and pulled, tearing it quickly before his free hand took hers and slammed it into the ground, shooting pain up through her arm. The gasp that followed though wasn't caused by the burning pain of the damaged nerve, but by the recognition of the face.

"You should not have done that, _Little Mina_," Hwang said, his voice like steel, cold and sharp. His eyes were inhuman as well, almost glowing and metallic. It was Hwang's face, but not his face at the same time. It was like an animal trapped in a human body. Trapped in Hwang's body. His face drew closer to hers, his eyes reflecting the light in an odd angle, "You should not have done that," he repeated, his timber low and harsh as he took her mouth with his in a brutal kiss, bitting at her lips to force them open, taking the wild kiss deeper still, like he was staking a claim.

Mina was in turmoil. Hwang was alive when she had thought he had been dead. But at the same time this wasn't Hwang, and even so, everything he was doing to her, as he forcibly removed the last vestiges of her clothing, felt both right and wrong. Hands that, in her dreams, had been gentle and loving, were harsh and violent. Pulling and scratching at sensitive flesh while he held her down with the weight of his body. Words that should have been soft and loving were instead cold and angry. He kept muttering about _her_ betrayal, accusing her of having some phantom lover. Things that should have been pleasurable were instead causing pain.

When his mouth moved down to her neck, clamping down hard with his teeth, biting her, Mina screamed, "Hwang! Stop, please!" she shouted, her cries going unheaded as he continued, his flesh, hot and feverish rubbing against hers in so many places. There was also the scraping sensation of something metallic against her skin as well.

"Kyung!" Mina screamed, using his first name as she always had when trying to gain an emotional response from him. And it worked, just not in the way she had hoped.

Hwang's hand came down hard and fast across her face, the blow sending stars across her vision and snapping her head to the side. "Don't say that name, you little bitch, you're _mine._ You belong to me! Not to anyone else, despite what you may think. You are mine."

"What are you talking about?!" Mina sobbed, turning her head to face him, "It's _your_ name! You _are_ Hwang Sung Kyung, and there is no one else!"

"I don't have a name. _You_ stole it from me," he hissed, the words not making any sense to Mina, "_you_ did this to me."

"I didn't do anything to you," Mina cried out around a yelp of pain that followed Hwang settling himself over her, touching parts of himself to parts of her that no one had ever touched before, "I thought you were dead."

"I won't die until you do, in that way at least, my life is tied to yours," he said coldly, no emotion in his voice.

_What does **that** mean?_ Mina thought panicked. She could feel Hwang getting ready to push forward, it was everything she had ever wanted from him. But not like this. This **was not** her Hwang. It looked like him, it sounded like him, it smelled like him. **But it was not him.** And Mina had had enough. With a strength fueled by desperation and fury, she wrestled her arms out from under him, and swiftly, with a strength she wasn't aware she possessed hit him on the side of the head as hard as she could.

He fell on top of her, suddenly a slack comatose body and nothing more than dead weight. Wiggling out from underneath him, Mina looked down at the unconscious man in his tattered dark clothes. Shaking from the after effects of the rush of fear and anger Mina dropped to her knees and covering her head with her arms screamed.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Mina sobbed, the enormity of what had almost happened sinking in. _Hwang almost. . . Hwang tried to. . . **rape me**_?! She looked up for the ball she had curled herself up in, Hwang was still out cold. His actions had been so unlike him, Mina realized a second later. He also hadn't recognized his own name, and she had felt something sharp and metallic against his skin.

Moving cautiously, she moved and took Scarlet Thunder, then to Hwang. Kneeling down beside him, she idly ran her fingers through his hair, jerking her hand back when it came in contact with something hard and pulsing at the base of his neck. Gently she pushed the stray locks cover his neck to the side.

Mina gasped, something was lodged in Hwang's neck! It was metal, with tendrils moving out in various directions as it seemed pulse, imbued with some unholy life. It seemed familiar somehow. _Soul Edge Shards!_ Mina suddenly remembered the few words she had been able to coax out of the wounded ninja. Mina looked closer at it, the one on the back of his neck was in too deep to be able to pry it out casually like one would a splinter, but hadn't she felt something similar scraping against her when he was on top of her moments before?

With a deep breath Mina rolled the comatose man over on to his back, putting him directly on top the bed roll. There was indeed another splinter-like shard on his chest, a chest marred with scars Mina didn't remember having been there, also dotted by wounds that had yet to heal fully. This metallic intruder was over Hwang's heart. Mina bit her lip and held back tears, again it was too deep to pry out with the small knife she knew she had in her belongings.

She reached out to lightly brush her fingers against the shard. After a simple brush of her outstretched hand against it, Mina pulled her fingers back with a curse. The shard had burned, been hot to the touch, like it had come directly out of a forge. Mina knew that both of the metallic pieces were responsible for the feverish temperature of his flesh. Almost like it was eating him from the inside out.

Maybe the shard were responsible for other things too, like Hwang's lack of memory. Him accusing her of being unfaithful and his new, angry personality. Even if he had suspected such a thing of her in the past, he would never had said anything about it. That was just Hwang, that was the way he was. Mina bit her lip, if the shards were responsible for what was happening to Hwang, but if she couldn't pry them out of him what could she do?

_White Storm,_ Mina realized, the sudden epiphany sending her reeling, re-energizing her almost instantly. She had been so close to giving up in her grief, so close to letting Yun Sung get away with theft. Just one more day and she would have crumbled. Mina smiled brushing Hwang's bangs with her fingers, White Storm would restore his memory and personality easily, all he had to do was look into the blade. It would be such an easy task to find Yun Sung, thus far he had left a trail that a blind and crippled man could follow without error.

Mina covered Hwang with the blanket to the bed roll and gathered her tattered clothing. The garments would be easy enough to fix in the next village, the rips were clean, the fabric still mostly intact. Mina moved over to where she had tied Kyung, the horse was standing on unstable legs, shaking its head like to clear it. The stallion calmed when she approached, and Mina took her spare outfit from her saddle bags. While not crimson like her other outfit, the green, gold and white outfit was the one Daddy preferred because it was more 'modest' as he had told her once. The only thing was she didn't like the colors nearly as much as her other outfit. Mina quickly braided her hair and looked back to where Hwang lay on the bedroll. She wouldn't be able to take it with her, but she didn't mind lending it to Hwang.

Without thinking, Mina grabbed the spare bag of food and another of supplies and walked back over to where he was. She set both bags down next to him, after all, she didn't want him dying of hunger if she _needed_ him following her. And he _would_ follow her, of that Mina had no doubts. He also wouldn't kill himself over this, Mina knew, he had said that his life was connected to hers. Although unsure exactly what he had met by that statement, it was strangely familiar to another one he had made a couple years ago, when taking her home for the second time.

_Rest assured, Mina, I won't let anything happen to me until I get **you** home safely._ Mina had to hold back a foolish smile at that. That had been in response to Mina telling Hwang that he should just drop dead, that she was in no way going back to the dojo with him. Mina pushed Hwang's bangs aside. He looked so different with his hair mused like this.

"I don't know what's happened to you Hwang, but I _will_ fix it. Mina will make it all better this time," Without thinking she bent down and kissed him softly on the lips, "I love _you_, Hwang Sung Kyung. And you'd better not forget that again."

Mina took one last glance at Hwang, already forgiving him for what had happened. It was obvious to her that Hwang was not himself right now. She smiled again, "I'll see you soon, Kyung," she said, a lightness that she thought lost once again in her steps.

_Hwang's alive! Hwang is alive! And Once I get to Yun Sung, Hwang will be himself again,_ Mina thought happily, mounting the stallion, with scarlet thunder in hand she galloped off into the night, knowing that Hwang would follow, knowing that he was alive, she felt lighter than she had in days.

* * *

Assassin rubbed his head woefully as he awoke from the dream. _No, not a dream_, he remembered as he touched the shard at the back of his neck. He had failed in both claiming and killing Mina. The bruised lump at the side of his head explained how she had managed to thwart him.

"Little bitch," he growled into the darkness. He scrambled up from the sandy soil, vowing that he would catch up to her again before the night was through. He couldn't have been knocked out for more than an hour, most likely less. Mina's horse had suffered an injury to the head similar to his, so she couldn't be riding hard.

"I'll make you wish you'd killed me instead of knocking me out," he hissed into the desert night before running after the hoof prints that led to the north. The shards in his chest and in his neck burned as he ran, stinging him onward. _Weak, weak!_ He cursed himself. _How could you be so weak? She's just a woman, after all._ Or perhaps it was the shards that cursed him.

_We thought you were strong. We joined you when you defeated the Japanese general and were strengthened when you killed the mutant moon bear. We delighted in your slaughter of the mountain bandits, for it brought us much strength. But you disappoint us with the failure to kill the woman. She does not even possess a shard. You must turn to other prey._ Yes. It was the shards that spoke into his mind, manipulating his very thoughts.

_No. Let me kill the woman. She will be dead before sunrise, I promise_, Assassin begged, feeling a fool for arguing with himself like this—for arguing with two bits of cold metal embedded into his flesh.

_You do not have the strength to keep that promise. You can barely stand on your own two feet. _

_Yes, I do!_ Assassin retorted silently, clutching at the severed arm he kept close within his cloak. I have enough strength and stamina to catch one little girl, and this will give me more. He had eaten bits of the flesh every day to replenish his body with strength; the limb was now gnawed down to a ragged stick with a dark shard of metal embedded into the bone.

_It is no longer enough to sustain you—or us! If you want a chance at ever catching any sort of prey, you must implant the shard within your flesh._

_Very well_, Assassin replied as he pried the shard from the bone. Even in the darkness, it glittered slightly with stolen starlight. He felt the length of his arm with his other hand, searching for a recent cut in which to insert the piece of metal. If there was none, then he… his fingers touched an abrasion on the inside of his wrist. A memory pulsed to life, of Mina twisting one arm away in a swift and violent maneuver that allowed her to get hold of a makeshift weapon. The lump on his head wasn't the only mark she'd left. He growled softly, then plunged the shard into the wound. She would not escape his grasp the next time he got his hands on her.

_You will not, however, chase after the girl just yet. We know that she is what has kept you going, kept you killing for more pieces of ourselves. But there is a more important entity you must defeat, first. Can you feel it? It lies near…._ Assassin stilled his thoughts and did as the shards bid, reaching out his senses for the entity they spoke of. He did not have to concentrate hard. The creature had a strong presence; the only reason he had not noticed it before was that its energy was very similar to his own. He could feel its heart beat in time with his own, both synchronized with the pulsing of the three shards embedded in his body. 

_Where is it?_ Assassin wondered. It felt so very near, yet the desert field was devoid of everything but sandy dirt and nocturnal insects that scuttled through the sparse vegetation. 

_It lies below the earth, within the labyrinth remains of a palace that once stood in this area. _

_How do you know this? _Assassin demanded.

_Can you not hear it? It speaks to us. It speaks to you. We will be one, you with us and us with it._ The shards then filled Assassin with memories, images that seemed to describe their own history. Part of the flood of memories described the life of a young man whose life became intertwined with that of the shards. Obsessed with obtaining more fragments of a weapon named the Soul Edge, this man lost his life over his greed for the shards. However, his spirit continued on when his body died. He continued his search for the fragments of the Soul Edge, gathering them onto himself until he formed a new body—a body composed of soul shards. 

_What is this? Is this my life?_ Assassin wondered in horror. _No. I am not a monster composed of metal shards. And I will not become one! I only need to borrow the strength of the soul shards so that I can avenge the wrongs committed against me by Seung Mina. Then I will end my wretched existence. In death, I will finally find peace, I will…damn!_ An entire entity composed of shards! he suddenly marveled. I will make those fragments my own. He raised his face to the wind as if he could smell the intoxicating fragrance of the soul shards. 

_Join with me, my brethren_, the entity called. Assassin heard it clearly this time, a whisper into his mind. He followed the guiding voice, blind to his surroundings, knowing only his lust for more soul shards and the sensation that guided him towards them.

Assassin stood before the subterranean entrance to a forgotten dungeon, the remains of a palace that had long since crumbled to dust. Inside, he could feel the presence of a hundred shards—no, maybe a thousand—waiting for him to add his self and the three shards he possessed to the growing entity. The metal fragments embedded into his skin seemed to try to pull away from him, pull toward the massive stone door. He pressed a hand against the worn surface, feeling the shape of a sword scratched into the stone even though the low-relief carvings that had once covered the door had all but worn away. At his touch, a mechanism within the door gave way and the heavy stone slab swung forward. 

A hundred torches lit the cavernous room that the open doorway now revealed. They flickered violently from their wall brackets, casting a vicious play of light and shadow on the stone walls of the chamber that was easily the size of the entire Seung dojo. The center of the room seemed to have crumbled away except for a wedge-shaped platform supported by six massive pillars—or what remained of six pillars. Once painted in bright blue and green bands, the structures had lost more than their color over time. Large chunks of their stone was missing and huge fissures ran along their lengths. Assassin hardly dared look below, where the bases of the pillars ended in dark obscurity. But the sight that awaited for him in the middle of the island platform was too terrible to look upon; his gaze refused to settle in that direction.

A myriad of shining black shards swirled around a blood-colored nebulous, sometimes arranging themselves like the bones of a human skeleton. Now the ghastly humanoid stood with his "arms" crossed over his chest and, although it had no eyes that Assassin could see, he was certain that the creature stared menacingly at him. My brethren, it hissed into his mind.

"I am not your brethren!" Assassin shouted, his voice echoing madly in the cavernous chamber. "I don't know what you are, but your shards will belong to me!" He vaulted over a huge gap in the ruined floor, landing on the wedge-shaped platform with a cloud of dust. 

"What do you mean, what am I? Don't you remember me, Hwang Sung Kyung?" begged a soft, feminine voice. When the disturbed dust settled once more, Assassin found himself staring into Mina's dark, round eyes.

"Y-you!" he spat, stepping back and almost overstepping the reaches of the platform. 

"Yes, me," she affirmed, and it couldn't have been anyone but her. From her young, pretty face to her defiant stance; from her crimson fighting outfit to the scarlet zanbatou she held in her small hands, she couldn't be anyone but Seung Mina. "Come on, let's get this over with. I know you want to kill me because you claim I betrayed you. However, you have long since forfeited your claim on me and I am free to do as I wish. Yes, that's right—you never owned me, 'practically promised' or not," she said confidently as she casually stretched her muscles in preparation for battle.

"We were promised in marriage!" Assassin retorted. At the same time, he mulled the words over and over again in his mind—the ones that were supposed to be his name. Am I Hwang Sung Kyung? 

"I was offered to you in marriage, but you turned the offer down! And when you left the dojo to fight in the war, you're the one who left me! You swore you'd always be at my side, or at least my back, to protect me. You left me, Kyung. Your claim on me is forfeit, and the vengeance you hold for me is unjustified. But you stalked me and you tried to rape me, and for that I am the one who deserves revenge." 

"What about that auburn-haired boy? The one whose vest you cuddle with at night?!" Assassin demanded, refusing to believe her words.

"Jealous, Kyung?" Mina smirked. "Too bad you never realized your feelings for me until it was too late. Do you think I could ever love you now, after what you've done to me? I never held another in my heart. But if I decide to turn to Yun Sung, well, that's my decision. You won't even be alive to see me make it."

"You lie like a woman. And you'll die like a dog," he growled as he stepped toward her. Dust flew up from their footsteps as the two combatants circled around each other for a few moments. Mina was the first to close the gap, swinging Scarlet Thunder out at his midsection in a powerful strike. It connected, but not as she expected. Assassin dodged the blade, taking the force only from the staff. He then kicked the thing away from him, sending both the zanbatou and its wielder flying backwards.

Mina recovered easily, turning the backwards movement into an easy flip that landed her back on her feet. She came at Assassin again, jabbing at his torso with three quick strikes. He couldn't escape it quickly enough and took the sharp jabs painfully. He ignored the pain, however. After all, it was nothing compared to sheer ecstasy he felt when she was this close to him. The small cut on her exposed midriff leaked the exotic perfume of a soul shard. An enormous, powerful soul shard. He came at her viciously, hungrily, wanting nothing but to consume her entirely. He launched himself at her in a spinning attack, striking that exposed midriff as he avoided her counterattack in a whirl of his black robes. She crumpled to the dusty floor, clutching her abdomen as a sticky river of black blood spewed forth. 

Mina jumped back to her feet, using her weapon to vault her into position. Assassin swooped down upon her before she could fully recover, knocking her back onto the broken tile of the platform. He pinned her down with his body, his legs weighing down hers as he gripped her arms savagely in his wrapped hands. He was suddenly glad that he hadn't killed her before. He tore at her clothing with his teeth while she struggled uselessly against him. When his mouth reached her wounded midriff, he plunged his face into the wound and began to lap up the dark blood that pooled in her navel and spilled down her sides. She screamed horribly, but it sounded dry and faint. Her body began to deteriorate beneath him, fading into a black-boned skeleton with a bloody red orb that swirled in the area of the wound. 

Finally, the creature broke free of him. Assassin leaped to his feet, wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeve.

"We're not finished, yet," it growled furiously, its voice fluctuating in pitch and volume until it finally settled at a mild tenor. It brushed the dust from its gruesome bones, and suddenly it took on a completely different form.

"Mina?" Assassin whispered. 

"What about her?" the auburn-haired boy demanded, swinging a bright white blade that was very similar to Assassin's weapon. "Now, you'll quit if you want to live, because I'm not going to lose to a fool like you. For years, I strived for you to recognize me as your rival. I needed to surpass you in all ways. Now I realize that I have always been better than the great Hwang Sung Kyung. And as for Mina, well, now that you're out of the picture…."

"I'm not out of the picture, yet," Assassin growled. "And I don't have time for this, so get out of my way." It was hard to focus on the boy. His senses reeled under the fresh influx of shards, shards in liquid form. He felt like they turned his tongue, his mouth, his insides to metal; he could barely speak.

"You always said that," Yun Sung scoffed. "You never had time. There was always something more important than the business I had with you. Then the war came along, and that was your biggest excuse of all."

"You think me joining the military was an excuse?!" Assassin demanded, jabbing his sword at the broken tile floor for emphasis. It was more of a test to see if he was in condition to fight this fellow if it came to it; he was pleased that his limbs appeared to be just as quick and supple as they always were, maybe even more so.

"Yes. An excuse for blowing me off, for dodging the awkwardness you created between yourself and our master when you refused the marriage proposal to his daughter, for escaping from the sudden closeness that was developing between you and Mina. Don't tell me you just wanted to serve our country, because we both know that's bullshit."

"Let's just cut the crap. You want to fight me? Then let's fight!" Assassin screamed, but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. Yun Sung nodded and mirrored Assassin's ready stance. The two combatants began to circle each other, matching each other pace for pace. 

Assassin closed the distance first, as he was impatient to get the battle over with. _Shards. I need more shards. I can't waste time on this when there are shards to be had!_ His senses were going haywire. He was sure he felt the aura of the shards emanating from the very walls of the ruined subterranean chamber; then they were in the dark eyes of his young opponent; then they were inside himself, swallowing him whole. Well, if the boy was a shard carrier, Assassin would find out soon enough. He slashed at Yun Sung's midsection in a spinning move that carried him away from his opponent as a blaze of green lightning struck the place where he had stood only a moment before. The scorched, cracked tiles smelled of… shards. 

"Don't tell me you just wanted me to recognize you as a rival! You're not just after my woman—you want my shards!" Assassin accused the boy as he danced around the blackened area and launched a new attack. He knew full well that anyone who possessed fragments of the Soul Edge craved more, and that desire was the whole of their existence. Yun Sung dodged Assassin's quick thrust, however, and the green lightning flashed upon the white blade once more. Assassin watched the blade warily, edging away from it as he sought a better opportunity to strike. He did not expect the three sharp kicks to his knees that knocked him to the crumbling tile floor. All he saw was a blaze of green light, and then he was nearly toppling over the edge of the platform. 

"How's that?" Yun Sung demanded with a laugh. How? Assassin wondered angrily. How did Yun Sung know I would be here? He must have set a trap, with Mina. Of course. That's why she was here as well. I should have known. I should have known that they were both after my shards all along. The string of thoughts raced through his mind in an instant. In the same moment, he leaped up to a crouching position and kicked Yun Sung's legs out from under him. Yun Sung yelled and another flash of green blazed toward Assassin. It struck full in his face, slicing like an ethereal blade. It was as painful as taking a real sword in the face, however. 

Assassin felt like his bones were on fire, that even the marrow was consumed with flame. He threw his head back and screamed. The fire erupted at his cry, burning away his body in a storm of green flames.

"You will never have my shards, you scheming twit! I am the shard!" he declared loudly. His words did not make a sound audible to his ears, but spewed forth in a stream of fire that transformed Yun Sung's body into a blackened husk. The flames danced upon the black ooze that leaked from the smoldering pile, gathering the strength of Yun Sung's shards into Assassin's new body.

He stood up slowly, realizing that he possessed more height than before. No, then he was shorter. As the liquid metal within him began to cool, his body could not seem to decide on its shape. He didn't have time to think on this much longer, for Yun Sung's remains suddenly began picking themselves up off the floor. His cinders consolidated into a blackened skeleton which righted itself and strode to the center of the platform. A pale red nebulous spun weakly below his ribcage. _Shards. There's still more shards?_ Assassin wondered. The red light flared briefly. When it died, a man stood in the place of the grotesque skeleton. 

The man wore a tattered turquoise vest, identical to the one Assassin knew Mina kept with her and snuggled with when she slept. _I thought it was… Yun Sung's_. His dark spiky hair was pulled back with a wide band of plum-colored fabric. _The same piece of fabric that I used to wrap my hands? _Assassin wondered, glancing down at his bloodied hands. He seemed to remember tearing the plum-colored headband from his head and, rending it into two, using it to wrap his hands. He'd shed the ruined vest, leaving it in the carcass-strewn battlefield and replacing it with the dark cloak of a Japanese general who lay at his feet. After all, the man wouldn't be needing it anymore….

"Shortly after, you named yourself Assassin. I am the real you, the whole you. I am Hwang Sung Kyung," the man announced. Assassin jerked his eyes up from his hands to meet the man's fierce gaze. 

"How can you be me? I'm me," Assassin blurted out. He knew it sounded stupid, but he couldn't stop himself from saying it. Just who was this person? "So, Yun Sung, still up to your games? I don't know what kind of power the shards have lent you but, believe me, it isn't enough to overcome me." The man's visage flickered. Once, Assassin thought he glimpsed Sung Mina, then Yun Sung. Then the appearance of himself reappeared. 

"Hwang, Hwang, Hwang…," the man spoke slowly and condescendingly. "I can't believe you would kill Seung Mina for the Patriot Sword. Shards of it, even. You wanted the sword so that you could make your country safe from the invading Japanese. Safe, so that you could protect her. Safe, so that you could start a family with her someday and your children would not grow up in the bitter world you did. You've totally lost sight of your original purpose, Hwang. You've transformed into some kind of monster. Assassin. It's… beautiful." 

"She—" Assassin began, but Hwang wasn't done talking.

"So she's the one that betrayed you. Very interesting. Well, Hwang, you did refuse the marriage proposal. When you left to fight in the war, well, you didn't explain your reasoning for that to Mina, either. You simply left. Can you blame her if she turned to Yun Sung? Is that really a betrayal? Regardless of your intentions, she never belonged to you."

"Look, what do you want?" Assassin demanded.

"What do I want? I want what you want. I want more shards," the man replied hungrily. I'm going to kill myself, Assassin realized. Somehow, it doesn't seem right. But when the man launched himself across the arena in a spinning attack, Assassin had no choice but to fight for his survival. 

"I told you, you can't overcome me," Assassin grunted as he blocked the attack to his chest and knocked back his attacker with a sharp kick to his head. He felt stronger and more limber than ever before. The very pores of his skin glittered with the shards. They formed a netting of metal interlaced with his flesh, a beautiful casing that made him impervious to damage from any of Hwang's sword strikes that made it though his guard. With a sweeping undercut, he slashed his opponent's feet out from under him. Hwang looked stunned as he fell.

"Those were my shards! I lost my life over those shards. I will not let you take them from me!" Hwang screeched from the broken tile floor. He leaped back to his feet and delivered another blow to Assassin's chest. Assassin nimbly dodged it.

"You always strike my chest. The energy of the shards does not swirl in a central nebulous as it did within you, however. It is within me, and I am within it. I am the shard! You cannot overcome me. So I extend the offer you first made to me: join with me, my brethren," Assassin announced boastfully. 

"I am you!" the man insisted. "I know everything about us!" He slashed at Assassin twice in the chest, then finally struck home with a blow to his head with Blue Storm.

"You aren't me! You aren't anyone! You're some kind of… charade!" Assassin argued. He launched himself at the man, vaulting off of his body as he leaped into a diving slash that drove the man into the floor. Bits of the ceramic tile exploded around him, but Assassin took no damage from the shrapnel. Energy crackled within him, and he released it in the form that "Yun Sung" had wielded so dangerously. He slashed his own copy of Blue Storm through the air, sending a wave of green light from the blade. The green light enveloped his opponent and erupted into a storm of lightning. The man screeched as the light ate away his body; Assassin yelled in triumph as he felt the energy from his opponent's shards course into his body. This was it. The fight was over.

Assassin sagged to the floor next to "Hwang's" incinerated remains. _I did it. I defeated him. It. Whatever it was. _

_You have proved your strength_, his shards congratulated him. Assassin suddenly felt very weak, however. He couldn't seem to draw upon the energy that he had just acquired. _Your new body needs rest_, the shards advised.

"Not here," Assassin groaned. He didn't want to be in the same room as his dead "self" any longer. He didn't want to think about all the bullshit that the creature had thrown his way as it had assumed the forms of people in his past life. It could have all been lies, meant to weaken my resolve in battle. No… I don't want to start thinking about it. He lurched to his feet and walked to the edge of the platform. He would have to summon the strength to leap over the gap once again. _Shards, help me_, he prayed as he jumped across it. He barely made the solid floor on the other side and, as he landed, chunks of tile crumbled into the gap he narrowly cleared. Heaving with the effort, he stumbled across the dusty floor of the subterranean chamber and climbed out into the night above.

Assassin wasn't aware of where he was going, but somehow his feet guided him to Mina's abandoned campsite. She seemed to have forgotten some of her supplies. There was some food, which he ignored for now, and a small bag. He unfolded a thin blanket from the bag and wrapped himself in it. As he drifted off to sleep, he begged that it would be a dreamless slumber….

* * *

Seung Mina dismounted and stared at the ground below her intently. She looked left, then to the right, then straight ahead. She swallowed a string of curses. The changing landscape as she approached the Chinese border made Yun Sung's trail disappear into grass and the tracks of the uncountable amount of caravans that made their way between China and Korea.

Mina bit her lip, instead of following Yun Sung directly she now had to go off on her intuition. There were many small villages and townships on the border, but the best place to find anyone would be in The City of the Spices, as the Chinese had named the large trading city on the coast near the border of Korea. The City of Spices. Those who had traveled well and knew more of the world called it something else. The City of Spies. There would be someone there with information on her query, Yun Sung.

And information on something else as well. Something vital to freeing Hwang. Soul Edge Shards. Drawing a deep breath of purpose Mina spurred her horse and turned, heading in the direction of the City of Spices. Before long, the walls of the large city loomed over the horizon, like sentinels guarding the priceless information she needed to continue on her quest. Information on Hong Yun Sung. And more importantly information on the Soul Shards. After all, anything and everything could be found in this city if you knew where to look.

She reached the city when the light of day had faded, giving rise to the 'day' the lights of the city created. Brilliant and shining they called out to travelers begging them to bring themselves here to rest. At the large gate Mina passed easily, no trouble with the guards here. Although not common, China did have its share of woman fighters. Even their epic tales spoke of woman wielding blades in battle. Besides, in a trade town most, if not all, things were either accepted or ignored.

Mina balked at the smell of salt as it stung her nose, its pungent aroma hanging in the air as she led her horse through the town. She picked a stable near the docks, where the price was cheap, but the care still satisfactory, for Kyung, the horse. Without wasting anymore time she then headed to a tailor. The woman examined her torn garments and without asking how they had come to be in that state quoted a price for their repair, and said blandly that they could be picked up tomorrow afternoon. Mina nodded and paid the woman in advance to ensure a job well done then went out in search of information.

The amount of people out after sunset going about their business just as the lamps which lit the city were lit was staggering. People of all shapes and sizes moved about, different tongues and dialects assaulted the ear. No where did she see hide nor hair of Yun Sung. Mina sighed, she had never expected him to materialize out of no where, but it would've been nice had he magically been in the large city.

Mina snorted with laughter that all of a sudden bubbled forward, odds were that Yun Sung knew nothing about this city, that it existed or what it could do for him. Or for her. A cocky smile on her face Mina made her way to the large row or Inns near the docks. Packed with foreigners as well as Chinese and Koreans it was bound to turn up leads of the Soul Edge and these shards that she kept hearing about, and indeed had taken something infinitely precious to her.

She had picked a Inn to enter when a shape caught her eye. Mina turned to follow it and sucked in her breath. A very familiar foreign woman walked the streets then stepped into one of the many buildings that sat along the street. Short white hair, dressed like a man of her own culture, and not like a woman. Mina remembered her well, as the woman who had humiliated her on the second quest Mina had undertaken for the Soul Edge.

A very uncharacteristically feral grin spread across Mina's girlish face. This was certainly convenient. A little payback was in order, and this woman would also surely possess at least information about the Soul Edge Shards, if not some shards themselves. Mina had to consciously stop herself from skipping playfully as she moved toward the building that the other woman had disappeared into.

The door to the tavern-inn slid open to a smokey, rancid smelling world Mina had long associated with men outside the dojo. She scanned the debauch place quickly, her gaze instantly settling on the white haired woman. Mina started towards her, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

Mina turned and looked at the person attached to the hand. A taller Chinese man stood there, a bottle of liquor in his free hand, his fat face flushed with tell-tale signs of drunkenness. Mina's face twisted into a look that was half disgust, half pity and she tried to disengage herself from his surprisingly strong grip. The last thing she needed right now, to speak nothing of wanting, was a come-on. But of course, that was just her luck.

"Hey bab~y," the man drawled out, his voice catching on the words until they were almost beyond recognition, "Lookin' for a good time?"

Mina laughed aloud, ignoring the attention that now centered on her and Mr. Drunken Man. Moving easily, and way to quickly for Mr. Drunk to avoid she made a sweeping motion with Scarlet Thunder, catching the drunken man right between the legs, in a move that was well known for making nearby men flinch in sympathetic pain. With an easy balance Seung Mina threw Mr. Drunk across the tavern, his body cutting the palpable rancor of the place. His limp, fat form crashed into the table where the white haired woman had seated herself. She glanced down at the figure of the unconscious man with no more than a raised eyebrow. Then up to Mina who know stood a zanbatou's length away from her, with Scarlet Thunder outstretched.

"You," She started, her voice thick with accent as she attempted a European tongue to better get her point across to the white haired woman, "have something I need. Besides, you owe me a rematch."

Mina stood, unflinching as the white haired woman looked her over, trying not to shudder at her eyes, their unearthly color of turquoise sending shivers down Mina's spine.

"I don't think so," was all she answered before standing and attempting to walk nonchalantly past Mina. Mina blocked her exit easily with Scarlet Thunder, the weapons wide reach also scattering the few drunken men that remained in the tavern.

"Well, I do think so," Mina said, silently praying that her words were correct, now was not the time to be tripping over foreign speech. She ignored the particularly volatile look that the white haired woman cast towards her. Mina could almost picture her staring down her nose at her as the highborn had a habit of doing. That annoyed Mina even more. She felt her own eyes narrow in response, her look becoming hardened by the mixture of venom and annoyance that moved restlessly through her being. "You will fight me. Now," she finished.

The older woman's gaze bore into her, searching, it seemed for her weaknesses, strengths, and what else, only the dead knew. Again, Mina had to steel herself against their unusual color and potency. Mina stood her ground, keeping her gaze and features as hard as she could. There would be no doubt, no fear, about the battle ahead. She had trained, she had studied, and she knew with a certainty that went beyond faith, beyond a simple idea that she might be able to, that she could win.

The smoke circled around them for what seemed an eternity and each breath Mina drew and every beat of her heart were as loud as thunder in the small room. The other woman finally broke into a smug, cruel, grin and snorted. She placed her hand on Mina's zanbatou and pushed the weapon down. "As you wish, outside then."

Mina grinned ferally in response, "Outside."

The world outside, was a different universe from the one indoors, the smoke from the tavern seemed to circle out and around the foreign woman, forming an aura that made her eyes glow even more in the lanterns that lit the street in an horrible red parody of daylight. She looked like a demon. And for a nervous moment in the moonlight, where she stood, Mina thought she might have been. Her resolve almost fled in that moment - almost.

Her legs spread in a fighting stance, her face not having shown even a flicker of her emotions that racked her soul, she swung Scarlet Thunder around to her front, and in a voice she didn't know she had possessed she called out, "Let's do this!"

Her response was laughter, deep and almost insane, "Prepare to die," the woman said, before, with a single whip of her wrist her sword became a chain whip, racing toward Mina with a speed that she often remembered in her more detailed dreams of her pervious fights.

This time, however, she was ready for it. Mina vaulted into the air, using her weapon as leverage to carry her out of the way of the sword's path. With Scarlet Thunder reached out before her, she aimed and fell towards the white haired woman. Of course her blade hit nothing, as she expected. No one would stay in on place long enough to let her come down right on top of them. She turned quickly only to trip as something cold and metal wrapped around her ankle. Mina worked free quickly and flipped backwards, only to have to avoid another attack with the strange sword.

With all the dodging Mina was doing, she realized she'd have to change her strategy. Trying to get in close wouldn't work, the woman was still quite good at keeping her at a distance, so Mina decided she'd have to attack from a distance too.

She flipped and, reaching out with her blade as far as possible, she felt the stick connect with something. Without really thinking she pulled it back sharply toward her, and heard a 'woof' followed by a form hitting the ground, and a quick recovery.

Dodging the sword she continued, whirling in a dance of her own in answer to the one the European woman was weaving, staying far enough out of range for a sword attack, yet close enough to answer with her own blows. Mina wasn't sure how long it had gone on when she brought the back of the stick around hard and heard a hollow thud. The onslaught stopped suddenly. And Mina had to shake herself clear to remember what had happened.

After a moment of metal stagnation, Mina looked down at the unconscious form of her opponent and smiled. Dancing around, she said in very satisfied Korean, "God, that felt good."

She ignored the crowd that had gathered around the fight scene and gave her downed opponent the one over, it didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, in a horribly obvious pouch were three blood red shards of metal. They reeked of the same aura that had emanated from her Hwang. With a simple hand toss, she caught the pouch and tied it to her own outfit and turned around to find an inn to spend the night and gather some information of her own. In the morning, after she'd picked up her favorite outfit from the Chinese tailor, she'd be off once more. Hopefully with Hwang hot on her trail. She whistled a happy song from her childhood as she walked into the moonlight, leaving the stunned townspeople to deal with the aftermath of her fight with Ivy Valentine.

* * *

Two days and forty-five miles out of Bordertown, Yun Sung finally began to relax. It was time to stop running from Yoshimitsu's band of thieves, which he finally gave up imagining were chasing at his heels, and redirect his energies toward finding the Patriot Sword. He hadn't imagined where his journey would lead after he reached China. Luckily, Ling seemed to have a general idea. After all, Yoshimitsu had been after the legendary sword himself. And would be still, Ling informed him, except that he needed to build up more resources and a better idea of the sword's location before resuming the trail. Lacking both but with no other path to pursue, Yun Sung and Ling rode with the sun rising at their backs, hoping that along the way they would learn wherein the Ottoman Empire the fabled sword lay.

"It's time to rest. Even Bear is tired," Ling said wearily. 

"We'll stop soon," Yun Sung replied curtly. Ling had a nasty way of intruding on his thoughts when he was trying to think seriously about his mission. He was tired, too, of course. And most fatigued of all was Kiri. The mare's sides heaved with exhaustion. It was simply too much for her to carry both Yun Sung and Ling on her back at the strenuous pace at which they had been traveling. But they couldn't stop here, not in the unguarded open space of the dry grasslands.

Yun Sung dismounted and Bear hopped down after him.

"Help me find us a shelter for the night," he told the creature. It scrambled off ahead and Yun Sung followed, leading Ling on Kiri. They finally crested a hill and halted on the other side. There they found shelter with their backs to the hillside and a few thin trees to screen their campsite.

Ling seemed much more comfortable camping outside that Yun Sung was. In fact, her eyes were nearly ablaze with excitement as she worked at starting a fire. 

"This is just like the good old days, before Yoshitmitsu moved the clan out of Japan. Back when he had a personal score to settle, before he became obsessed with the Soul Edge. Oh, he hunted the sword even then, for to him it seemed his only hope to avenge the man who has massacred his entire clan some years ago." She sighed. "Anyway, I would wake up every morning to see the snow-capped peak of Mt. Figi rising above the forest. There was no whoring for me to do, so I helped the bandit clan by making meals and washing clothes. Never had I felt so carefree… it was the best time of my life. Now again, I begin to recapture that feeling of freedom."

Yun Sung smiled. He realized that he had withdrew White Storm from his belt and now absently turned it over in his hands. He wondered what the bandit lord had seen in the blade's reflection that had moved him to tears, that had prompted him to simply hand over—no, nearly force the sword back into the boy's hands. "`It lies! I help others! I am not a common criminal with only self-interest at my heart! This thing of evil tries to twist my heart—you may have it!'" the man had wailed.

"So, your boss… he steals from the rich and gives to the poor or something?" Yun Sung asked Ling. She shrugged.

"Kind of. He considers himself a chivalrous thief because his mission is to destroy the Soul Edge once he finds it, so that the tragedies caused by its evil will never be repeated. And of course, it is his thieving that supports this mission against evil," she answered. 

"Do you believe that the Patriot Sword is evil?" he asked. She shrugged again. 

"It never mattered to me. Yoshimitsu protected me, and I did what I could to support him in return. I don't know if I believe in good and evil. If I did… well, I should think this whole world an evil place for what it has done to me, for what I have to do in order to get by."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…," Yun Sung began.

"It's alright. Anyway, I'm not worried about the Soul Edge. And besides, I've always wanted to see the world," she said, interrupting him. Yun Sung edged closer to the fire. They had no food, but the warmth of the fire offered some comfort. 

"I am worried about getting food, though," she said as if reading his thoughts. Bear had disappeared to hunt and forage for his own dinner.

"We couldn't stop in any towns, and we didn't have time to pick up supplies in Bordertown," he lamented. 

"There's other ways to get food. I just don't know what I'll be able to find in this area, especially in the near-darkness." Ling smiled softly. "Oh, you really have led a sheltered life, haven't you?"

"Not really. I left home at the age of five. Well, to live at a dojo…." She giggled before he could finish.

"Oh, a warrior! Well, guard the camp, will you? I'm going to see what I can find for us to eat," she said, standing up from the fire. Yun Sung watched her slim figure, silhouetted by the fire against the deepening twilight, disappear through the trees. He leaned back and sighed, feeling rather helpless and useless. He returned his gaze to White Storm.

_She trusts me. She trusts me to protect her like Yoshimitsu and his band of chivalrous thieves once did. But why? The further from the Seung dojo I get, the less clear my mission seems. I hardly know what I'm doing out here. But it's too late to go back now_, he thought, glaring angrily at the sword as if its abduction was its fault, not his. _But it would be so easy to give up. All I have to do is wait for Mina to catch up with me and drag me back by my earlobe…._

Dinner was a meager collection of such roots and plants that Ling determined were edible, but it was better than nothing. She emptied the rest of the contents of Yun Sung's water canteen into her cupped hand and gave it to Kiri to drink. Soon they would have to find more water. But right now, sleep was Yun Sung's primary concern.

"Goodnight, Mina," he mumbled as he rolled into a ball near the remains of the fire, now banked and extinguished. "And thanks."

"You called me Mina again," she said, her voiced muffled by the blanket. Yun Sung now had only his traveling cloak to sleep in.

"Sorry," he muttered back, slightly irritated at her—or himself—he wasn't quite sure at the moment.

"You know, Yun Sung, I think part of the reason I trust you is because you're so sheltered, so innocent." 

_Sheltered?! _"Innocent?!" he creaked.

"Oh, so you have been with her then?" she asked slyly.

"No, of course not! But that doesn't mean that…."

"Oh, so you were awake when I had my way with you back in Bordertown. You did a good job pretending to lie in a drug-induced sleep."

"WHAT?!" he demanded fiercely. Ling giggled.

"I'm just teasing you. I told you, you're not my type," she said. "So innocent… it's so fun. Oh, and you can call me by my given name if you want to. It's Mei."

"Goodnight, Mei," he grumbled, his face hot enough to rekindle the campfire.

Yun Sung dreamed that night. He thought he saw Seung Mina step through the thin trees that sheltered his campsite, thought he saw her standing over him as he slept. The campfire was rekindled, its flames throwing flickering tongues of light and shadow across her face as she loomed over him. She looked like an enraged goddess. Yun Sung half wanted to embrace her, half wanted to burrow into the ground and disappear from those angry eyes. She snatched up White Storm from where it lay wrapped in his cloth belt and brandished it as if to strike him with it. Yun Sung, lacking the ability to either move or speak, cowered in silence.

"How dare you?!" she demanded. He was powerless to answer. But even if he could speak, he did not think he could summon the right words to say to her. _I know you're angry with me. Even angrier at yourself for trusting White Storm to me. But, Mina…._

"How dare you sleep with another woman?!" she cried. 

_What? No, Mina, no! I'm not…! I wouldn't…! You're the only one there is. The only one there ever was! _But she could not hear his silent pleas. With one mighty stroke, she brought the blade of White Storm down on his paralyzed form.

Yun Sung awoke with a scream. He scrambled up into a sitting position, finding that he was strangely encumbered. It was as if the effect of the frightening dream refused to completely disappear! Then he realized that the warm, heavy thing pressing against him was Ling. He jumped back, scrabbling away. _Oh no! No! Mina! I didn't mean to! I don't know how… oh no! _He pulled at his messy hair. _No, it's alright. We didn't do anything. We were just cold, that's all! Yes, cold! And, and…. _

"Arrrrgh!" he cried aloud. Ling stirred.

"What's wrong?" she asked groggily. Yun Sung thought he detected amusement in her tone of voice.

"I didn't touch you!" he said.

"Huh?"

"Anyway, it's not like… snuggling will defile my, my…." Ling did not seem to be paying attention. She grabbed his cloak from where he had discarded it on the ground and rolled herself into it. Yun Sung sighed. "I'm just trying to get my blanket back," he said to an imaginary Mina that still loomed behind the trees, as he fought for the last remaining corner of his cloak and curled up against the thief in defeat.

* * *

Assassin dreamed. A shadow pulled away from him, retreating from the dream world that Assassin suddenly also wished to escape. In this world, nothing existed except for himself and that shadow. The only light seemed to be coming from the back of his head. No matter which way he turned, he could not see the light source. He turned this way and that in the bleak, two-dimensional world. The shadow was always directly before him, as if a projection from his own forehead. Always, it moved away from him. After a while he realized that he was also moving. He had no body, but he was being propelled forward as surely as if his own feet carried him. He was chasing the shadow. He desired for it—the one thing that existed in the world besides him—to be near him. But always it retreated. He yelled in frustration. The noise moved awkwardly, echoing in his ears but refusing to move through the air like a real sound would. He screamed, and this was enough to wake him from the nightmare.

Assassin rubbed his head woefully as he awoke. A dream. He'd know it all along, yet he felt surprised somehow. The ruined temple buried beneath these desert sands, and the frightening characters he had battled there—was that also part of the dream? _Yes, it must have been, _he lied to himself, ignoring the pulsing sensation at the back on his neck. He had not accumulated any new, physical shards from those battles. It could not have been real. And yet, he felt the energy of his shards, now doubled in size and power, coursing through his veins. Pulse… flow. Pulse… flow. It was as if he breathed through a hole cut at the back of his neck. 

_She's gone, _he suddenly realized. At the same moment, he wondered who "she" was. 

_No one. Nothing. A shadow, _the shards told him. _We have shown you a new goal, one infinitely greater than the old. That was but a means to an end. You must let the shadow pass beyond your sight._

_ She…. _Assassin could not remember the shadow's uncloaked form. Bits of the dream in the ruined temple floated to the surface of his mind. 

_ --Jealous, Kyung?_

_ --You are not me!_

_ --I want what you want._

_ --I'm not out of the picture, yet._

The montage of dream and memory flickered incoherently before his mind's eye. Which images belonged to her? Why was it all so unclear?

_Enough! _demanded the shards. Assassin shook his head to clear it. _Enough. _He was quite inclined to agree. The memories disturbed him. And yet, he also wanted to savor them. They were like the wound on the back of his head—because it evaded his sight, he could not help but feel inclined to touch it constantly, to remind himself of its ragged shape. 

He got up slowly, easing himself up from the hard ground. It was time to go, time to feed. He had proven himself worthy of being a vessel for the growing entity of the shards; now he must upkeep his duty. He cast a glance over his campsite: the blanket, the supplies. They wore the scent of the shadow, his body knew. Although he did not require them as food and shelter, they provided a link to her. He gathered them up before he set out into the early morning. Beneath the slowly climbing sun he walked, a fevered man chasing a waking dream. The shards may have wished to subvert him from his quest, but instead they had awakened a state more primal, more base, than the animal instincts that had ruled him.

* * *


	6. Chapter Five

Title: White Reflections

Author: Sephira jo and Cap'n Dampel (contact: )

Series: Soul Calibur

Pairing: Hwang/Mina

Rating: R

Disclaimer: We Don't own, well, other than the our own little copies of the game, the franchise belongs to Namco.

Archive: with permission only.

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update, but Cap'n Dampel moved, and I've been workin' my butt off, hopefully it will be a quicker fix from here on out, but we can't promise anything.

**Chapter Five**

Mina awoke well rested in the room of a Chinese inn. She stretched, naked skin glowing in the day light that filtered through the screen. She was glad of many things, the beating of Ivy, the acquiring of three small shards. And this morning, her favorite outfit would be fixed and back in service. No more of the frumpy green and white thing.

She rolled out of the futon and dressed quickly, tying the green sash with ease. She pulled the screen open, revealing the morning light. She didn't speak, it seemed childish to cloud the day with such nonsense as 'hello morning!' or 'what a beautiful day!'. But she couldn't deny she has slept better the previous night than she had since she had started this journey. Since before she had thought Hwang dead.

_He's alive!_ She thought jubilantly for the millionth time since finding out. She turned away from the window and braided her hair, keeping herself from giggling. Barely. Like a woman awakened, she went about her morning business, ate, paid and left the end. The first stop, the tailor's.

Mina entered the small shop and made her way to the old Chinese woman who sat hunched over a pile of silk and other fabrics. "Morning," Mina greeted, in easy mandarin. The older woman looked up, slightly annoyed. She squinted already wrinkled eyes at Mina.

"What do ya want," She asked, rudely. Mina almost couldn't understand her.

"Um, I dropped off some clothes yesterday," Mina explained, "The red silk top and split skirt?" Mina pointed out quickly.

The old woman glared at her for a moment, as if she might be lying then nodded shortly. She reached into a basket and pulled out two pieces of clothing and handed them to Mina. Mina smiled, then she noticed something, "Um, wasn't my top a lot bigger?"

"There wasn't enough silk to fix it, you have a problem with that?" The woman said, holding out her palm as if expecting something, "That will be five yuan, please."

"I already paid you!" Mina pointed out, holding the next to nothing top between her hands, half mortified and half glad that Daddy wasn't here to see it, he would throw a fit, she stretched out the fabric, there was less than half of it left, "Besides, this isn't repair, it's butchery! There aren't even any buttons, how am I supposed to wear this?"

"Tie it in the front?" The tailor suggested dryly, "How isn't my problem, and you didn't cover the extra silk I used."

"What extra silk!?" The woman looked irked, "If you want any more, please add a clasp in the front," Mina demanded dryly. Tossing the top back to the tailor who looked pleased and nodded.

Fifteen minutes and five yuan later, Mina had a somewhat wearable top. Trying to find the bright side, she conceded that the hot weather of the upcoming summer would be a lot more bearable.

She changed behind a screen provided, poking at the new top. Yes, it was most definitely a good thing that Daddy wasn't here to see this, he'd have an aneurism. The top only covered enough to be considered decent, without the clasp, she would've had to resort to tying it. Her entire stomach was bared, as well as the upper curves of her chest. She sighed slightly. _Well, I'm not wearing the other one, and it's not like Daddy's here. And if I run into Hwang again... I don't mind him seeing me like this..._ She blushed wildy and feeling extremely under covered, left the tailor.

The rest of the day was eventful only in the way of information gathered. Rumor had it, Yun Sung has totally destroyed a bandit group near Bordertown. How much of the rumors were true, Mina had no idea, but it was a better place to start than none. Not the town itself, but making that quick jump to the west would allow her to pick up his trail once again.

Information on the blade itself, told Mina that he would be traveling in the direction of Europe, was he still in search of it. Which knowing Yun Sung and his thickheadedness, he still would be. Rumors pointed towards a country called Greece. The farthest Mina had ever made it was a place called Germany. _Maybe, I'll make it all the way this time. Wouldn't it serve the little bastard right, to get there and have me standing there with the sword already._ Mina smirked at the image.

The information made for a good day, the other thing was interesting in itself, Mina wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She was younger than Mina, of that she was sure. And Chinese, of that Mina was also sure. She was about her height and dressed vividly, like a member of a preforming troupe.

_I wonder what she wants, I guess I'll find out if she follows me out of town,_ Mina thought. As she paid for the care of Kung and left the gates of town, she knew the girl wasn't far behind. Mina was hardly irked by this, after days of being stalked by Hwang in a darker form, it seemed nothing to be followed by a Chinese girl, who was almost definitely her junior in years.

Mina made a big show of looking like she had no idea she was being followed, it surprised her that it was easy to do. She traveled until nightfall then set up camp. She made herself a tempting target, though she was never more than a couple inches from Scarlet Thunder. When she made the pretense of bedding down for the night, her weapon was still a hand's grasp away.

She didn't have to wait long, the soft padding of footsteps entered the camp. When the younger woman stood over her, Mina opened her eyes and leveled her weapon at her, to be greeted by a shining Chinese sword a spilt second later.

"Hello," Mina said in Mandarin.

"Hi there," The other woman answered back in perfect Korean.

"May I ask, what you want?" Mina said, sticking to Chinese.

"You may," Korean, "but I might not answer."

"Okay then," Chinese.

"Alright then," Korean.

"What **do** you want?" Mina asked again, still speaking Chinese.

"To see if what you have is what I want," The woman answered, still speaking perfect Korean.

"Oh, and how do you plan on that?" Mina asked, carrying on as previous.

"Well, I was just going to take it from you, but since you woke up we'll have to do this the old fashioned way," the woman responded, likewise.

"It seems so," Mina said simply, "If you'll move then, we can get this started and over with. Then I can go back to bed, and you can run along home."

The other woman made a tuting noise, "I don't think that will be how it plays out," but she did back off, "You'll be sleeping alright, but it won't be a sleep you chose on your own."

Mina stood up and grinned, holding Scarlet Thunder in a fighting pose, "We'll see about that, won't we?"

"If you think you can keep up," she grinned, Mina grinned back. There were about to speak a language both could understand without words.

The younger girl lunged. Mina dodged easily. "Not bad, for an old woman," The girl taunted, using Korean still.

"For a child, you handle that stick well," Mina returned, unfazed. The child students of her father called her the ogress. Old and fire breathing. Age taunts no longer affected her.

"Why thank you," She lunged again, her style so fast that Mina had to turn quickly to side step the lunge. The woman was aiming at the pouch that rested on her sash.

"Oh, don't mention it," Mina lunged in return, and they're blades met with a clang and flash of silver. Metal singing in the moonlight. Both smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll never tell anyone how badly I'm going to beat you," she said in a sing song voice.

"Because you won't," Mina returned just as evenly. They kept up the dancing, swinging, jumping, slicing, missing, taunting. After about fifteen minutes both were breathing heavy, "How long to you plan on keeping this up?"

"Good question, until I win?" She returned, but sounded winded herself, "you're good, a lot better than most people I've fought."

"I try," Mina put down her weapon, and the girl did the same, "You're very good too."

She snorted, "I'd better be," she sat back on the ground with a thud panting, Mina did the same, "Or those years of training were all wasted."

"Who are you?" Mina asked again.

"Chai Xianghua, circus acrobat," She said playfully, "You?"

"Liar," Mina returned easily, "acrobats don't fight like that." She sat down too, using Scarlet Thunder as leverage, "I'm Seung Mina, of the Seung dojo, and I want to know why you wanted these," She said, smiling, holding up the pouch from her belt.

Xianghua pouted, "You're right, it's a lie. I'm actually from the Imperial Guard. And I want to see if it's true, if I think you have actually exsits..."

"The first story was more believable," Mina said, ignoring the second statement for now.

"I know, really I do, which is why I use it." Xianghua replied, an easy candor to her speech. It was then Mina realized they both were speaking their own natives. When they had changed off, she didn't know. Still breathing heavily she decided it didn't matter a bit. Xianghua shook her head slightly, "So, may I see them?"

"See what?"

Xianghua smiled, and in the moonlight she looked absolutely wicked, "The shards," she leaned forward, "I want to make sure I'm not chasing a rumor. You have some don't you, you took them from the foreign woman. Soul. Edge. Shards." She accented each word and leaned forward a bit.

"Yes, I do. But I need them, and I'm not giving them to you or anyone for any reason."

"Oh, I never wanted to keep them in the first place," Xianghua explained easily, waving off the statement with her hand, "I just wanted to make sure. I was going to lift them from the white haired woman, but you kinda beat me to it."

Mina shrugged, "Winners luck," she said, smiling, and took out the three shards and held them in her hand, they burned, she showed them to Xianghua for a second then put them back in the pouch and put the pouch back in it's place.

Xianghua pressed her lips together as if thinking, "Well, damnit, I thought I destroyed **all** of it. This certainly blows."

"Excuse me?" Mina asked, suddenly both confused and intrigued. Xianghua shook her head quick, holding up her hands defensively.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Why do you need to keep those by the way, they aren't exactly user friendly," She noted.

Mina smiled sadly, "To help a friend."

Xianghua leaned forward her look knowing, "A friend? Or something more?"

Mina blushed and looked away and thought of Hwang. She smiled softly, her thoughts were no longer sad, no longer doubtful, she _would_ save him. "Yeah, kind of," she muttered.

Xianghua sighed, "We're in the same boat then," Mina looked up to see the other woman staring at the sky. The sword now resting on the ground, her look was wistful, "I haven't seen him for...well a long time, he left without a word, to 'cleanse the evil in his soul'. What he doesn't understand is there isn't any. Well, he thinks there is... and I guess that makes the difference, he chases demons that only he can see. Leaving me here." Xianghua sighed.

Mina smiled, "We're in the same boat," she echoed, and smiled, remembering, "Mine... he avoided me for years, like he was afraid of me, even turned down my father's offer of marriage. Then one night, he announces that he's leaving for the army a second time. I thought... until just recently, that he had died. But he's alive, just...sick." Mina looked up with a gaze of steel, "Which is why I can't let you have the shards, I can't explain it, but I need them to make sure he finds me so I can get him back."

Xianghua smiled, "I understand, I think, if I carried some, he wouldn't come within an arms reach of me. He'd be terrified," She smiled wide, "So I'll let you keep them, can't find Kilik to have him run away again. Kind of counterproductive, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," Mina smiled back. They sat in silence for a moment.

"You don't mind sharing camp for the night, do you?" Xianghua spoke up, "You wore me out, we can go our separate ways in the morning."

"I don't mind at all. If I find my pouch gone..." Mina threatened, half jokingly.

"You won't, Guard's honor."

"Hope you have your own bedroll."

"I'm covered." Xianghua said, and moved to the trees to come back with a traveling pack. Mina nodded.

"Well then, bed time it is." Mina pushed her self back up and wandered back to the dying fire, flopping over in the bed roll exhausted. She saw Xianghua do the same on the opposite side of the fire. She was more tired than she thought, as the image blurred quickly, fading into the shadowed world that was sleep.

_Mina looked around, the first thing she noticed was the setting was _odd._ Underground, it seemed on a platform that rose from nothing. Her dress was strange as well. Heavy and white, not normal. It struck her a moment later that the dress was like those she had seen women wear in Europan towns. Only white, an ill-omened white, like that of a corpse. A man, clothed in black robes with eyes of fire stood stoically in front of a strange table, on which rested a white cloth, candles and a sword that wasn't a sword. It looked like a pulsing piece of a human body._

_Mina shuttered and looked down at the ground. Something shining on the palms of her hands caught her attention. She lifted up her hands to look at them, not sure if it was real. Imbedded in the center of each hand was a blood red shard. The light caught them, and they shone like ruby or bloodstone. Mina was entranced. _So beautiful,_ she thought absently, like she was looking at something that adorned a god. A sudden sharp pain over her heart caused a hand to go to her breast on reflex, a small sliver shaped bump could be felt there as well._

_She glanced down and saw it peaking over the low collar line the dress presented, she poked at it curiously watching it waver in the light. Footsteps moved toward her and Mina reflexively moved back and looked up. She stopped in mid step._

_Hwang stood before her, dressed only in loose fitting pants, the kind he was wearing when he last saw her. The rest of him bared to the world, bronze flesh catching on the light of the fire. She caught her breath as she stared at him. On him two, in two places she could see, were the blooded ruby shards, over his chest and in his wrist. He moved and stood in front of her, smiling down upon her. He seemed happy, normal, and Mina rejoiced, taking his hand and for a reason she couldn't define kissed the shard embedded in it, a slight burn grazing her lips as she did so._

_The man in the black robes with fire eyes spoke, "Seung Mina, will you take Hwang Sung Kyung to husband according to the rite of our holy mother?"_

_Mina not knowing what to say simply nodded._

_The fire eyed man repeated the same thing to Hwang, who responded simply with, "I will." Hwang gazed on Mina and smiled like she hadn't seen him do since before he left the dojo, "'Till death do us part, Little Mina," He brushed a hand across her face._

_The man with the fire eyes seemed overjoyed by this and said in a voice so even and steady it seemed unnatural to Mina, "That which the shards have joined may no man rend asunder."_

_At that moment Mina's world exploded in a red haze of pain. Her hands were bleeding, the beautiful stones in them were no longer so. They were twisted, strange. Her breast was bleeding also, so much blood. It was then she registered that Hwang had also made a noise somewhat like a strangled scream. Mina looked up, blood was running down his chest, running down his neck and flowing down his wrist. He held his weight on one knee, his expression pained._

_Mina managed to move slowly over to him, the man with the fire eyes was laughing, blood stained the living sword on the alter. "Hwang..."_

Assassin awoke from fitful sleep to find himself within the subterranean ruins once more. He stood up from the dusty floor, angry that the shards had somehow guided him here while he slept. As he came to his feet, however, he noticed that something was fundamentally different about the place. An altar on a raised dais rose from the center of the ancient chamber. Blood coated the floor in violent splashes, too fresh to have been spilled in his battle here. Also, he was not alone within the transformed ruins.

Ghosts filled the chamber, their insubstantial forms pressed close together to make a tight ring around the dais. He turned slowly, tracing the ring with his eyes, and suddenly found himself within their circle. Their cold, ethereal bodies brushed against him and they moaned softly. Then one of them stepped inside the circle to join him, its form becoming more concrete as it approached him.

She wore a long, white dress. Lace draped her entire body. Even her hands were covered with white, lace gloves and a thick lace veil covered her face.

"Hwang," she called, and he recognized her at once. Mina had come to him. The chase was over at last. She held out her gloved hands to him and he saw that a piercing wound marred each palm. Another open wound gaped across her left breast. Had he done this to her? He pulled her close, bringing her veiled face just inches from his. The pursuit was over and he would finish what he started.

He tore off her veil and bit into the soft flesh of her lips. His Mina, all his. He tasted the coppery flavor of blood and she began to struggle. He growled and pushed her against the altar. The wounds in his neck, chest and arm reopened and his blood intermingled with hers, staining the white cloth as he devoured her.

All the while, some hideous shape atop the stained altar cloth pulsed; a man with flames in his eyes laughed; the ghosts moaned in disharmonic delight.

Assassin awoke, the laughter still echoing in his ears as the dream faded away. He clenched his fist in fury. So it had been a dream and nothing more. The veins in his arm rose to the surface, tightened with tension. The wound on his arm split open, dribbling blood onto the hard dirt ground and staining it black. He yelled in pain and rage and scrambled up to his hands and knees.

Assassin did not know for how long he had chased the scent of his prey. She seemed to grow more distant each day, progressing with a speed that even his shard-enhanced body could not match on foot. Then there were the dreams. Last night's was not the first one, but it was the most vivid. They had come in increasing clarity each night, even as his prey drifted further away.

_She's doing this, _he told himself. _She's sending me the dreams in order to taunt me. _

It was the only cohesive thought he had that day. As soon as he had packed up his tiny camp he transformed into a beast, an animal with a single mission in mind. And he did not waver from it until the scent of his prey's trail became so mingled with other smells and paths that he drew back.

Once more he wore the mind of a human. He had come to a large city. He spat in distaste at the throngs of people who moved in and out of the city along a wide thoroughfare. They moved as if possessed of one mind, a herd of cattle with listless eyes, some pulling carts like the beasts of burden they resembled. His prey was a wily fox, and he would not find her among these people. He loped through the shadows, trying to make sense of the myriads of crisscrossing trails of tracks and scent. He clutched at his bleeding arm.

_Shards, guide me! _

They were silent. He had broken free of their enchantment, tore away from their whispering half-life. No longer could they guide him to their purposes. The entity of the shards, if one truly existed, could only hope that Assassin would overcome others who possessed the metal fragments or be devoured himself by such a creature.

He closed his eyes and for a moment saw a line of footprints, dark and clearly impressed into the hard ground as if they had been formed in the softest black loam. Before the image faded away, Assassin was already bounding after them. They led out from the city, and he was relieved that he would not have to search among crowded streets and throngs of people for the one he desired.

Several miles later, he realized that another scent was following Mina's. The two had mingled for too long to be a coincidence. Another person was hunting her. Assassin growled in fury. Mina was his to hunt, and his alone. The other would come to understand this in a very unpleasant way. He chased after the commingling scents until well past dark, eager to catch up with his competition.

He came upon an abandoned campsite when the sky was beginning to lighten to a wintry blue. Here, the two scents separated. He loped about the old campsite anxiously, puzzling out what had taken place. There was evidence of a struggle, but both combatants had escaped from each other unharmed. He shook his head. It did not really matter what had occurred to the other. It was Mina he sought. Her scent was at least a day old; he appeared to be no closer to catching up with her. But he could not continue the pursuit anymore today. His body was spent and he needed to rest. He collapsed upon the worn ground of the campsite, inhaling the scent of his prey. As he lied down to rest, he imagined that he could feel the warmth of her body….

Assassin awoke a few moments before dawn, his instincts raising his body to alertness. His first thought was that his competition had returned to its old campsite, and he immediately chided himself for staying here. His second thought was to prepare for an attack. He leaped to his feet, Blue Storm glinting a dull blue color in the early morning light. He acted not a moment too soon.

The creature abandoned its attempt at a stealthy attack, its prey now fully aware of its presence. It leaped out of the sheltering trees, a graceful cat-like motion that defied its enormous bulk, and lunged toward Assassin. Assassin reacted in time to avoid the attack, but was stunned when his counterattack glanced harmlessly off the round shield that the huge lizard-like creature carried. Was his opponent man or beast? The lizard man took full opportunity of Assassin's confusion, slashing at him with two deadly, quick motions of his short sword. The first one made contact, opening a wound across the man's bare torso.

Assassin stumbled back, clumsily blocking the second blow. The lizard man was not only armed, but also moved at a lightning quick speed that even Assassin could barely match. And barely masking the stench of wet, leathery skin was the odor of the shards.

Delighted by this discovery, Assassin launched into the battle with renewed energy. Although both combatants were armed with bladed weapons, the fight took on the feeling of two enraged beasts locked in a battle for territory. They taunted each other with snarls and growls. Their lithe, muscular bodies glimmered with sweat in the faint, rosy light of dawn and threw violent shadows across the sheltered campsite. They relied on their claws and teeth as much as they did their weapons of steel. And when it was over, one stood victor while the other lay prone in the blood-soaked earth.

Assassin let out a scream of triumph. Then, while the body of the lizard man was still warm, he searched it for the precious black shards. He felt them pulse in the thick, leathery tail of the man-beast. With a final blow of Blue Storm, he severed the giant tail and extracted the dark metal shard. He held it up to briefly examine it in the weak morning light, then plunged it into the fresh wound that gaped across his lower torso. The blood that seeped from the wound immediately curdled and dried up. The new shard pulsed to life, reacting with the others embedded inside his body. Assassin wiped off this blade, cast one last glance at his handiwork, and embarked out into the new day on his continuing search for his betrayer, his fiend, his Mina.

Mina blinked in the afternoon light, smiled to herself, and blinked again. It had been a day and half since she and Xianghua parted company, each wishing the other luck in their endeavors. Both hoped the other would find the love she was so desperately seeking.

"How anyone could think that the Patriot Sword could save people?" Mina wondered aloud, fingering the three shards through the burlap of the bag she held them in; even through the fabric they burned, "All it does is tear people apart. I was right the last time—this sword is evil. I just wished Hwang would've listened to me, then we wouldn't be in this damned mess."

Her little rant to herself finished, Mina scanned the ground again. Hopefully, she was on the right trail. But it was odd. She knew Yun Sung had a horse and a bear, and there was evidence of both, but another set of human footprints, too small to be a man's, was also mixed with the rest.

Mina laughed a little, "Don't tell me, Mr. Pure 'I fight you' Yung Sung has found a girlfriend! I don't believe it! If this wasn't near where he was last seen, I'd think it was a joke." Mina scanned the trail after she regained her composure. She had been moving very quickly the past couple days—she couldn't be any more than a week, maybe a week and a half behind them. She'd know for sure when she caught up.

_Let's see, Yun Sung's tracking the Soul Edge (I wonder if he knows that it's broken), I'm tracking Yun Sung, and Hwang's tracking me. My, what a party we have. It will be very interesting when we all get together,_ Mina thought as she mounted Kung. She spurred him off in the direction of the tracks. She felt like laughing. This whole situation was perfect for her. She was hot on the thief's trail and she had Hwang on a leash, as she often wished she did when he left the first time.

_A pull here, A yank there, and the set-up will be ready. I'll get Hwang back and White Storm back, and Yun Sung will carry all my luggage all the way home. And to make him suffer even more, I'm going to go on a shopping spree in the first town I hit after this._ Mina snickered, the air in her face, as she rode toward her quarry. _Let Yun Sung do all the hard work, and he gets close enough to touch the sword, I will swoop in. It will only take a couple months to travel the path to Greece, **if** he got correct information._

She rode off into the distance, her mind thoughts drifting to Hwang. Lately, she had been having vivid and strangely beautiful dreams of him. She hoped that they'd stop being dreams soon. She missed him. Desperately.

"Sir Hong!" called Ling Mei. Yun Sung stared straight ahead, blushing furiously at the nickname she had adopted for him, refusing to acknowledge the embarrassing title. Ever since the night three days past, when he had camped inappropriately close to his worldly companion, Yun Sung had tried to place a bit of distance between the girl and himself. He restricted himself from looking into her eyes or brushing against her. He even tried not to touch her while they both shared the saddle, but that was not quite possible. He attempted to be the perfect gentleman that he was raised to be. Ling, however, thought he was playing some kind of game.

"Sir Hong!" she called again. Yun Sung sighed. It was rude to ignore her but, whenever he spoke with her, she always made a fool of him. She had decided to act the part of a damsel in distress and cast him in the role of her chivalrous protector. He sighed again, then finally paused and turned to face her.

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"We're being followed," she said simply.

"What?" he repeated. He knew Mina would be on his trail, but she could not have caught up with him this quickly.

"We are being followed!" she said again, more slowly this time.

Yun Sung glanced back across their trail. "How do you know?"

Ling sighed impatiently. "I know these things. It's a sense I developed while traveling with Yoshimitsu's band of thieves." Yun Sung did not reply for a moment; he debated telling her that Mina had most likely pursued him since the beginning of his journey.

"Someone is…" he began. No, he did not want to bring up the subject of Mina with Ling. The ex-thief would taunt him endlessly and he would never hear the end of it.

"Yes?" Ling prompted.

"I mean, you're probably right. You know these things," he muttered.

"Well?" she said, not placated by his response. Well? What else did she want? Yun Sung felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck. If Mina had indeed tracked him this far, he had no chance of evading her now. She was by far the superior tracker.

"We have to push on," he said tersely, nudging Kiri with his heel. The mare snorted and sped up for a few paces before slowing to her usual gait.

"You know who's following us," Ling stated coolly. Yun Sung startled, jerking the reins involuntarily and bringing Kiri to a halt.

"How do you…?"

"I know these things," Ling said calmly.

"Well it… it's not like it matters. If she… no. I'll get to the Patriot Sword, even without White Storm!" he said hotly, digging his heels into Kiri and urging her into a quick trot once more.

"Are you sure?" Ling asked. "That band of our men who died in the mountains—I know you didn't kill them. But someone following quickly on your trail did. I don't think we stand a chance against that person, whoever _she _is."

Her words drove a stinging fear into Yun Sung's heart. Seung Mina killed those men? No, it wasn't possible.

"She would never kill anyone unless defending her life. And she would never deliver death so cruelly as those men were rumored to have suffered," he argued, before realizing that he had almost given the name of his pursuer away.

"I know that she's important to you. But… I've seen what our quest has done to people. Not everyone can withstand the worldly temptations of the Patriot Sword. Even those who think they would only use it for good… like Yoshimitsu…."

"No! Don't pretend that you could possibly know her heart!" Yun Sung began, deeply angered by Ling's suggestion.

"What choice do I have but to make conjectures when you refuse to share the truth of your situation with me?" Ling demanded angrily. Yun Sung opened his mouth to make a response, but found his voice failing him. _I didn't have to take you with me. I never asked for your help, _he thought, but he could not make himself speak these words aloud.

He did not speak for a long time, fearing that whatever he said would be worse than silence. The discomfort between the two travelers increased as the rode. Meanwhile, the sky began to darken overhead. Unspoken anger crackled between Han Yun Sung and Ling Mei as the clouds turned from gray to black, and at last burst into a showering downpour. Yun Sung pushed Kimiri on determinedly, glaring angrily at the sky through the wet hair plastered onto his face. Ling gripped onto his wet clothing, her fingers clenched and shaking in anger.

_No, she's shaking with cold, _he realized some miles later. Anger roiled inside him—anger at himself for being so bull-headed. He steered Kimiri toward a large, rocky outcropping that proved spacious enough to provide a dry shelter. Ling glowered at him as he helped her dismount, but he thought he detected relief behind those angry, dark eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said as he sank down against the far wall of the shallow cave.

"Don't look at me," she replied. Her words stung, but he held back any response and looked away from her miserable, drenched form. He watched Kmiri snuffled the ground within the shelter for dry grass. She flicked her tail in frustration, the wet hair lashing Yun Sung across his face in the tight confines of the cave. He muttered to himself and covered his stinging face with his hands.

"Well?" said Ling after long moments had passed.

"Well, what?" he mumbled without looking up.

"Are you going to stay in your wet clothes and catch a cold?" she demanded, not completely unkindly.

"Huh?" He looked up, confused, and saw that the girl had removed her clothing and was wearing the travel blanket as a robe. He blushed in embarrassment. Bear moved over to Ling protectively.

"Oh, honestly. If it weren't for me, you'd be dead three times over before your Mina ever found you. Once in the tavern, once in this rain, and…" she trailed off, noticing that Yun Sung had turned his attention to the sword that hung at his waist. He removed it from the scabbard and stared at its bright white blade.

"She's not after the Patriot Sword. She's after this. If I'd never taken it from the dojo…."

"Oh, put the thing away," she said with a sigh. "It's your business, after all, and you never asked me to get involved."

"But you are involved now, and you have the right to know," he admitted.

"Yes, but not right now. I meant what I said about getting out of your wet clothes." To his surprise, she seemed embarrassed to have to repeat herself. Certainly she had seen the male form before! Ashamed at the thought—so she wasn't pure, but it was hardly her fault—he accepted the blanket she handed him and attempted to transfer into it without revealing any of his skin. They spread out their wet clothes by the entance of the cave and wished ruefully for a fire.

"It's all my fault," he sighed and he slumped down against the far wall of the cave.

"But if I'm correct in my guess, you stole the sword so that you would be able to obtain the Patriot Sword. It is a fine weapon to defend yourself with," said Ling.

"Oh, that. I meant about the lack of a fire. But, once again, you are right in your assumptions. It is sacred to the dojo, said to possess qualities beyond its finness of blade, its sharpness and its balance," he explained, once again removing White Storm from the blade to examine it. "Qualities that a child like me cannot understand. I was a fool to think I could accomplish great good with its stolen power. Now it doesn't seem that it will be in my possession for too much longer."

"You're giving up?" asked Ling. "You're just going to let Mina steal it back and abandon your quest?"

"I did it for her. I just wanted her to see me as a man. I've only succeeded in proving how much of a child I am," he said solemnly, staring at his dim reflection in the white blade. His face was soft, his eyes round and filled with fear.

"Then be a man," Ling asserted. "Return White Storm to her to take back to your dojo. Then continue your quest, this time using only your own resources. And of course, I'll be there to help you. You can still achieve the Patriot Sword for your country."

Yung Sung looked up, and saw in her eyes the sincerity of her words.

"You're right," he said. He lifted White Storm to take one last admiring look of it. He could maintain his dignity if he returned it to Mina, but not if he waited for her to claim it from him. As he contemplated what he must do, he realized that the blade reflected a strange mark on the wall behind him, just behind his right ear. He turned his head, but could not locate it. He glanced again at the blade and touched the strange mark that seemed so clearly reflected.

Suddenly, the wall shifted behind him, moving slightly to reveal a long seam. A doorway.


	7. Chapter Six

1Title: White Reflections

Author: Sephira jo and Cap'n Dampel (contact: Soul Calibur

Pairing: Hwang/Mina

Rating: R

Disclaimer: We Don't own, well, other than the our own little copies of the game, the franchise belongs to Namco.

Archive: with permission only.

Author's Note: Well, we're back. We both have been busy and living our lives, but Soul Calibur 3 has brought life into us, and we plan on working on this a lot more. We're over the halfway point I think, so sit back and enjoy this new chapter!

**Chapter Six**

"Let's go," Yung Sung decided as he pressed against the hidden doorway.

"So much for your talk about being a man," replied Ling. But as her tongue chastised him, her fingers worked furiously at finding the mechanism that would release the door.

"If I go back to the dojo now, everything I've done will have been in vain."

"And this new path I've started upon will be just another dead end. I need this quest just as much as you do... move out of my way."

Yun Sung allowed her to push him aside, shocked at the sincerity of her words.

_ Of course,_ he thought. _How could I be so childish? Of course Ling has her own motivation for helping me track down the Patriot Sword. She didn't just set out with me on a whim. _

"There," she said with satisfaction. They were now crouched before the small door promised by the outline revealed by the reflection in the sword. A door into a world that was almost completely dark and draped in dank, stale air.

"We don't know what's in _there_," Yun Sung stated. _But it's nothing compared to the fiery doom Mina will wreak on me. _"Let's go," he repeated. They hurried on in silence, the sound of their accelerated breathing filling their ears so that there was no room to hear anything else. It was so dark that they could barely see the shapes of their hands, making their way mostly through touch. Yet there was some light that allowed them to see that much, although Yun Sung could not detect where its source was. Occasionally his hand would slip from the rough wall of the passage, meeting nothing but air. That meant that they had reached a fork in the tunnel. Always, Ling would lead him to the right. When he questioned her about this, she said that it was only common sense to keep the direction consistent. That way, if they had to backtrack, they would not become lost.

Three forks later, while they paused to catch their breath, she admitted that she had been in such a place as this before.

"This part of the country is dotted with underground passages and ruins. Yoshimitu's band used one for a hideout once, when he needed to disappear for a time."

"Are they interconnected?" Yun Sung asked her.

"I don't know. We never ventured far into them."

"What was all this built for?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps in times more ancient, there was an underground political or religious group that needed to be able to move about secretly."

"I wish I knew what we were secretly headed toward," sighed Yun Sung. "I think we're still heading East, but I can't be entirely sure." He closed his eyes and tried to push away the feeling that they had wound themselves around an endless loop. He could usually count on his sense of direction…

As he focused his concentration, he detected a low humming sound.

"Does the humming help?" Ling murmured.

"No. Can you cut it out?" he whispered back irately.

"You're the one doing it," she giggled softly.

"No, I'm not!"

"What, seriously?" she asked. Yun Sung opened his eyes.

"What is it?" he wondered. It was not a constant sound, but it broke at regular intervals.

"I think it's coming from the right passage," whispered Ling.

"The way we were going to go anyway. Should we check it out?" He really wanted to avoid it altogether, and he really didn't think that consistently choosing the right path was going to save them from becoming hopelessly entombed in the subterranean passage. But he detected fear in her voice, and that fear offered him a chance to prove that he was brave.

Ling hesitated. Yun Sung pushed ahead, creeping along the right passage toward the mysterious humming. The passage opened up into a huge cavern. Whatever the sound was, it was being amplified by the acoustics of the chamber. It was accompanied by tiny flashes of light. Light, he realized, that was being reflected off a great pool of water that filled the bowled center of the cavern. He crept closer, realizing at last that the light he had made his passage with emanated from the rock itself. It was concentrated greatest here in the cavern, and lit the pool with an eerie green glow.

There was a figure standing in the middle of the pool, taller than any man, and it was swinging a giant axe. The swift movement of the axe through the air was the quiet but distinctive hum. The metal of its blade caught the dim light of the lake at certain angles and projected it in tiny flashes. Yun Sung watched, mesmerized by the spectacle and suddenly frozen with fear.

The creature seemed to be growing in size and his axe movements increasing in fury. Too late, Yun Sung realized that he had been noticed. Before he could react, the giant took one swing with his mighty axe, extending it an impossible length across the pool to snatch up Yun Sung by the front of his vest. He yelped as he was jerked off his feet and carried across the pool, his clothing ripping away with the violent motion. The fabric of the vest completely gave way just as the giant deposited him onto the stone island. Yun Sung scrambled to his feet instantly and drew White Storm, though his knees shook and his mind raced with panic.

"Little worm! Where did you crawl from?" the giant rasped through tiny stitches laced across the leather mask he wore. His eyes protruded through the mask, glowing like the water that surrounded them.

The next thing Yun Sung noticed was that he was on the ground again. White Storm quivered with the force of the blow it had blocked from the giant's mighty axe. _How can a thing of that size move so quickly? _He managed to roll out of the way before the axe could bear down on him again. As the giant hefted the axe up from the stone, Yun Sung made a lightning strike at the creature's torso. Although a large enough target, the massive thing recovered and evaded the blow in a mere instant.

"So, they did send you to fight me, peon. Now, squirm!" the thing roared through its hideous mask.

_ What is he talking about? _"I'm not going to let up for a second!" Yun Sung declared. If this monster wanted a fight, then it would have one. But Yun Sung would be humiliated before no one. They circled each other for a few long moments, each assessing his opponent. Yun Sung briefly scanned their arena as well. It was a small area raised above the rest of the flooded cavern. With the giant's massive reach, it did not provide a lot of space for the boy to work with. The center was slightly uneven where an intricate tile pattern had been worn away in places. The edge was rimmed with cool blue tiles that glistened with moisture. Even as Yun Sung realized the full danger, the giant was slowly herding him toward the edge of the arena where the boy's movements would be further restricted.

"Hell awaits, peon," the giant growled, already becoming impatient with his game. Yun Sung felt a pang of desperation. He could not hold out against this speedy titan for long. He struck out three times with White Storm in rapid succession. The axe met each strike with a quiet hum and a sharp clash of steel. Yun Sung barely brought his blade back in time to block the returning blow. Just the force of the axe almost toppled him over, but he kept his stance intact until the violet-skinned beast crushed his foot with one massive armored boot. Yun Sung twisted in pain and barely evaded another strike with the axe. It hooked the air just above his right shoulder, slicing a chunk of his auburn hair.

They were both dangerously close to the edge now, dancing along the rim in a battle that was quickly going to the giant. The thing was not too enraged with bloodlust to notice this, and pressed forward. With its tree-like forearms, it gripped Yun Sung by the shreds of his vest and embraced him in a deadly vice. Lightning pain seared through the boy's body. Then, like a thunderclap, he was forced into the free air. He dropped to the ground like a broken husk, one hand finding the icy water of the pool and the other grasping at his chest in pain. The force of that attack… he felt intensely like a part of his life had just been ripped away from him.

"You thought you could live through this?" the monster grunted gleefully. Through his fading vision, Yun Sung saw shards of metal within the thing's armor spark with blue lightning.

_ I am not going to lose!_

It shifted from a two-handed grip to a single-handed one, at the same time bringing the axe into a powerful overhand strike. Blue fire raced along its blade as it bore down crippled Yun Sung.

"Too… slow!" he taunted the speeding blade, rising into a crouch and dodging between it and its enormous wielder. It was all he could manage to get to this point of relative safety. Slow though this giant wasn't, Yun Sung slipped between those massive pistons of steel that were its legs and transferred his strength into a sweeping uppercut with White Storm. It wasn't powerful enough to damage the thing's massive backside, but it played to his direction of force. The monster toppled into the water. The strange lightning flared along the surface of the pool, and then the thrashing monstrosity went still and sank into its depths.

"Hey, get back up here! You're not still done, are you?" Yun Sung shouted after it, though he could barely keep from collapsing. He felt mad with emotion as the fear and adrenaline drained from his damaged body, replaced now with fury and relief. His vision swam, then suddenly he too fell into the water.

When Yun Sung awoke, he was lying on his side on the hard cavern floor. Ling's face, faintly illuminated by the eerie glow of the lake, hovered before him. She was smiling like a demon.

"I just saved your life," she said.

"Is that why you're so happy?"

"No… I was laughing because it was so perfect how you slipped over the edge after your dramatic victory."

Yun Sung groaned, coughed up a small spray of water, and sputtered, "I just saved your life, too. That thing would have killed us both!"

"Yeah," she admitted. "Although from were I stood, it just looked like a giant bunny."

"A bunny!" Yun Sung cried. "It had a huge axe!" He felt a smile pull at the edge of his mouth, as he realized, "With those ears or whatever they were sticking out of its mask, it did kind of resemble a giant freak-bunny."

Yun Sung turned his gaze to where Bear was sniffing at the edge of the lake. The cub was dragging something out of the water.

"No, Bear. Leave it!"

It was the giant's violet-skinned torso. Something glittered at its center. Shards of dark metal lay clustered about a larger metal spike in the flesh, like fragments of iron to a magnet.

They're like the thorn I pulled out of Bear's paw… 

"Leave it alone," he repeated, even as he decided to pocket those shards along with the other he carried. There was some mysterious power about the dark metal that would only go to waste at the bottom of a cavern pool. A power he would investigate after he rested a little bit to regain his strength. He didn't think he could stand up just yet…

"Yun Sung! Don't go to sleep. I'm going to bandage up your wounds and then we need to get out of here," Ling Mei pleaded. Yun Sung was fading fast, drifting into a world darker and more dangerous than the buried shrine.

Assassin walked a road between reality and nightmare, sanity and hell. The addition of the most recent shard, the one taken from the lizard man's tail, had catalyzed this state. Perhaps he lacked the strength or the mental capacity to control so much power.

_ It won't matter in the end. After I kill Mina, I will take my own life as well. Look at what she made me… I'm not even human anymore! _His heart no longer beat, but his entire body pulsed. He didn't breathe, but siphoned life out of the environment. His senses belong to a body that was poisoned by fragments of the Soul Edge. The world he traversed now was dark, save for trails of silver that shone through the murk, markers that connected him to the other shards. Other life forms were dim red blurs. If one crossed one of the silver trails, it became prey to Assassin. Otherwise he avoided them, for he had doubled his pursuit of his enemy, determined to subdue her before this world of madness claimed him completely. She was like a butterfly, always landing just beyond his reach before taking flight again. He swam through rivers of sand, crossed over mountains darker than the deepest night and climbed down valleys that blazed red. He avoided the cities, although the teeming life within them called to him. They sparkled like fool's gold in his nightmare world, cities with spires that reached to the sky, towns than sprawled along mountain ledges and filled entire valleys. He must have traveled a very long way to have seen so many of them… but distance and time did not exist for Assassin. He possessed only a vague concept of the near future.

_ I will be the last thing that Seung Mina ever sees._


End file.
